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Sleep More Lose Weight
This study showed that women who sleep 5 hours or less per day were 32 percent more at risk of developing significant weight gain compared to women who get 7 hours of sleep. The criteria for significant weight gain mentioned above was a gain in weight of 33 pounds or more. The study also showed that women who sleep 5 hours or less have 15 percent higher risk of developing obesity during the 16 year study period, compared to women who get 7 hours of sleep. Women who had only 6 hours of sleep per day, had twelve percent increased risk of major weight gain and 6% increased risk of obesity compared to women who get 7 hours of sleep per day.
These results are from a large study, comprising of a total of 68,183 middle-aged women, who were enrolled in the Nurses health study. The study participants were required to state their sleeping habits and asked to report their weights every 2 years of the span 16 years covered by the study. It was noted that at the beginning of the study women who had 5 hours or less of sleep on an average had 5.4 extra pounds in their body in comparison to women who had 7 hours of sleep. The lead investigator of the study, Dr. Sanjay Patel, says that this is the largest study of sleep habits and weight gain. He says that, this is the first study to show that lack of sleep lead to weight gain over a long period of time.
During the course of the study researchers tried to analyze if differences in food habits and physical activity contributed to the weight gain in women who slept less. Researchers found that those who are deprived of sleep were actually having less appetite and were eating less compared to women who had good seven hours of sleep. The research questionnaire tracked the physical activity patterns of women in the study, but the analysis did not show any statically significant variations in the exercise patterns between women who slept less and women who slept more. The weight gain in women who sleep less is not the result of eating more or decreased exercises. It is possible that women who sleep less might be more sedentary in their life habits outside the setting of planned exercise programs and may be burning less calories. However researchers agree that further research is needed to clearly understand what causes weight gain in women who sleep 5 hours or less.
Read more at: American Thoracic Society