A team at the University of Chicago Sleep Research Centre found that an extra hour of sleep during the night allowed participants to cut their caloric intake by 270 calories per day. Putting in place mechanisms to increase peoples sleep may thereby be one way to address the obesity epidemic, which costs Governments tremendously and will increasingly do so in the future. One way to promote better sleep in the community may be to increase the flexibility of work hours, allowing people to start and finish later if this aids a better sleep for them.