The number of people suffering from obesity has exploded in recent years. According to the textbook A Wellness Way of Life, “Thirty-four and three-quarters percent of American adults are obese. Between 1960 and 1962, this percentage was thirteen percent” (A Wellness Way of Life, p. 264). The problem of obesity is not isolated to the United States alone, but has become a global health problem of epidemic proportions. Many factors, such as diet and physical activity, contribute to obesity. However, scientists have recently discovered a surprising link between obesity and lack of sleep. Many studies have been done to confirm this link and, although not conclusive, these studies support the idea that lack of sleep may be a major cause of obesity today. Researchers have found that lack of sleep alters blood sugar levels, increases blood pressure and dysregulates appetite. According to a wellness lifestyle, insufficient sleep appears to affect the hormones that regulate appetite and body weight. Leptin, which suppresses appetite, is reduced; ghrelin, which stimulates the appetite, is boosted. These hormonal changes, combined with more time awake to eat and feeling too tired to exercise, all contribute to weight gain. (A Wellness Lifestyle, p. 375) Eve Van Cauter, an endocrinologist at the University of Chicago School of Medicine, conducted a study on the effect of sleep on the body. She monitored every system in her young volunteers' bodies while they slept. They had limited sleep of 4 hours for six nights. According to the study, “some volunteers were on the path to diabetes in just six days” (Cauter). Van Cauter made a shocking discovery that lack of sleep could be linked to obesity. His volunteers also had a slight drop in their levels of leptin, which is a hormone...... middle of paper ......considering that contributes to the obesity epidemic such as social, cultural situations and environmental. These studies, however, support the idea that lack of sleep may be a major cause of obesity today.Work CitedAvon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children Study Team. University of Bristol. ALSPCS, 2014. Web. March 6, 2014A well-being lifestyle. Robbins, Gwen, Debbie Powers and Sharon Burgess. 10th ed. Madison, Wis.: WCB Brown & Benchmark Publishers, 1994. 264. Print. Cauter, Eve Van. “Sleep science”. CBS News. 60 Minutes, June 15, 2008. Web. March 6, 2014Harvard School of Public Health. “Source of obesity prevention”. Harvard School of Public Health. HSPH, and Web. February 18, 2014North American Association for the Study of Obesity. “Short sleep duration and weight gain.” North American Association for the Study of Obesity. NAASO. September 6, 2012. The web. June 2. 2014