Eli5: Why do you get fat from sitting around playing video games but not lying around sleeping?
In: Biology
Sleep is good for your metabolism and helps you make better decisions (such as choosing healthy foods).
Source: https://www.webmd.com/diet/sleep-and-weight-loss#1
Also, you need to sleep whether you spend your day playing video games or being physically active, so this only becomes a direct comparison if you are foregoing sleep to play video games. Sleep deprivation can lead to increased levels of hormones ghrelin and leptin, which control hunger and satiety, so you will want to eat more. Also, you cannot eat while sleeping.
Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/sleep-deprivation-obesity/#:~:text=With%20too%20little%20sleep%2C%20the,prepare%20the%20body%20for%20rest.
If all you did was slept and ate, you would, I’m not sure where you get that idea. The difference is that someone who sleeps regular hours, and then goes outside and does things will not gain as much weight as someone with the same diet, but lives a sedentary lifestyle, be that playing video games, or sleeping.
It’s an overall activity vs calories burned ratio. If you moved more and or ate less you wouldn’t gain weight.
You don’t get fat from doing either of those things. You get fat from eating more calories than you burn. Exercise burns more calories than just lying around, so you can eat a few more calories and they’re effectively “canceled out” by the exercise. But if you don’t exercise, it doesn’t really matter what you spend your time doing, whether it’s sitting in a chair, lying in a bed, it’s all the same. Those are equal from your body’s perspective.
Less energy burned while sleeping is basically offset by the fact that most people don’t eat while asleep. I mean someone somewhere probably sleep eats but probably not most people.
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