If one of your New Year's resolutions was to lose weight, and you have a tough time staying away from sweets, try getting more sleep, says a British study.

Researchers at King's College London found that getting more sleep reduced the amount of sugar adults ate, and generally led to a healthier diet in those who reported sleeping less than the recommended minimum for adults of seven hours.

Getting more sleep resulted in a 10-gram (two-and-a-half teaspoons) reduction in reported intake of free sugars compared to baseline levels. Sleeping longer also reduced the total intake of carbohydrates.

"The fact that extending sleep led to a reduction in intake of free sugars, by which we mean the sugars that are added to foods by manufacturers or in cooking at home as well as sugars in honey, syrups and fruit juice, suggests that a simple change in lifestyle may really help people to consume healthier diets," said investigator Wendy Hall.

Study participants in the group whose sleep was extended underwent a 45-minute sleep consultation which aimed to extend their time in bed by up to 1.5 hours per night. A control group received no intervention in their sleep patterns.

Each person in the sleep extension group received a list with a minimum of four appropriate sleep hygiene behaviors that were personalized to their lifestyle (such as avoiding caffeine before bed time, establishing a relaxing routine, and not going to bed too full or hungry) and a recommended bedtime.

For seven days following the consultation, participants kept sleep and estimated food diaries and a wrist-worn motion sensor which measured exactly how long participants slept, as well as time spent in bed before falling asleep.

Of those receiving sleep advice, 86 percent increased time spent in bed, and half increased their sleep duration (ranging from 52 minutes to nearly 90 minutes). Three participants achieved a weekly average within the recommended seven to nine hours.

"Our results also suggest that increasing time in bed for an hour or so longer may lead to healthier food choices," said lead researcher, Haya Al Khatib. "This further strengthens the link between short sleep and poorer quality diets that has already been observed by previous studies."

The study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

A recent study found that simply drinking cherry juice before bedtime can also help people sleep longer. The research, which was published in the American Journal of Therapeutics, found that drinking tart cherry juice before bedtime helped seniors with insomnia sleep 84 minutes longer.