Science of Weight Loss on Scientific American

In case you want to know a whole heck of a lot about the science of weight loss, Scientific American has this special report:

http://www.sciam.com/report.cfm?id=weight-loss-science

Sleep and Obesity: The Science of Sleep

So, last night on CBS’s 60 Minutes, they did a double length segment on "The Science of Sleep." Since I was young, I have been fascinated by what takes place when you sleep. As a child, I remember reading about  REM sleep (Rapid Eye Movement) where one dreams, the various levels of sleep, and being particularly intrigued by sleep-deprivation studies. (Maybe that was a precursor to my current life, where I never get enough?)

Anyway, there were a few things that stand out to me:

• A sleep researcher points out that — even though we are
  extremely vulnerable when we sleep — evolution "decided" that the
  value of sleep outweighs the dangers. Granted, one is not extremely
  vulnerable in today’s society (unless he is prone to rolling off the
  bed); but in evolutionary terms, it’s pretty amazing that evolution
  would "allow" us to be at the whim of any crazed saber-tooth tiger that
  would come roaming through our camp. In effect, the benefits of being
  that vulnerable outweigh the dangers. Fascinating…
• Not getting enough sleep (like the vast majority of Americans;
  myself included) does NOT just make one tired, but generates the same
  symptoms as one gets from a variety of ailments, including diabetes
• As we get older, the amount of time we spend in "deep sleep"
  drops from about 100 minutes a night to about 20. One of the
  researchers pointed out that it might not be that aging causes less
  deep sleep but because we don’t get as much deep sleep, we age; a
  sleepy chicken and egg thing going on…
   
• Fruit flies that get enough sleep have better sex. (Kind of weird, but I felt you needed to know)

And the one that really stood out…