Studies show that a loss of sleep can make you eat more — and that doesn’t mean healthy salads and green veggies.

Sleep deprivation can trigger a reward system in the brain that responds to food stimuli. But until recently, researchers didn’t know if there was a similar relationship between everyday sleep loss and the brain’s reaction to food.

Researchers looked at volunteers who entered a nine-day study period with a built-up sleep debt. The scientists were able to show that even small amounts of sleep loss can put the “brain at risk for hyperactivation to food triggers in everyday life, which could be a risk factor for obesity and lifestyle diseases” such as diabetes.

On the flipside, getting the right amount of sleep appears to reduce this hypersensitivity to food stimuli.

The study was published in the journal Sleep.