Exercise ‘may help to curb your appetite’

If you've been diligently doing exercise to help with your slimming regime, you may be pleased to know that it could also be helping you to eat less in the first place.

Research carried out at Loughborough University discovered that physical activity can act to decrease hunger as well as to burn calories.

"Exercise may lower levels of ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates appetite in the short term, while raising levels of peptide YY, a hormone that suppresses appetite," explained lead author Dr David Stensel.

He added that this could be because the body is aware that it needs extra blood to prevent overheating, so diverts it away from organs such as the stomach and therefore shuts off extra demands like hunger.

However, the phenomenon only worked if the physical activity was intense.

Last week, a study at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill discovered that an exercise session could result in extra calories being burnt for up to 14 hours afterwards.

Do you feel less like having a treat when you've been exercising?