When adults between 30 and 60 don’t get enough sleep over a long time, their body makes less of a hormone that tells them they’re full; but if they miss a night of sleep, their body makes more of a hormone that makes them feel hungry—so different kinds of sleep loss affect hunger in different ways.

If you only sleep 5 hours instead of 8, your body might produce more of a hormone that makes you feel hungrier — even if you’re the same weight, age, or sex as someone who sleeps longer.

If you don’t get enough sleep for 8 days, your hunger hormones don’t change much—so if you end up eating more, it’s probably not because these hormones are telling you to.

If you don’t get enough sleep just one night, your body makes more of the hunger hormone and less of the fullness hormone, which might make you feel hungrier the next day.

People who sleep only 5 hours a night tend to have lower levels of a hormone that tells your brain you're full, compared to those who sleep 8 hours — even if they're the same weight or age — which might make them feel hungrier.

Older people don’t feel hungry after eating because their body doesn’t release the right hunger hormone the way younger people do.