To fight effects of sleep deprivation, reach for healthy snacks

In a study of 245 Stanford physicians, researchers found that a better diet is associated with reduced side effects of sleep deprivation. Nutrition scientist   Maryam Hamidi , PhD, conducted research recently which required her to repeatedly stay awake from 8 a.m. until 5 a.m. the next day. As part of the study, she also needed to keep supplies of both healthy and unhealthy snacks stacked in her office. Then, somewhere along the line, Hamidi, who has a doctorate in nutritional epidemiology and is a trained nutritionist, began to notice something strange about her own food cravings: "Around 6 or 7 p.m. I would start craving chips," she said. "I started noticing these bags of potato chips in my office. I had not craved chips since my undergraduate college years. One day I had one bag.