The study involved 68,183 middle aged women enrolled in the Nurses
Health Study. The women were asked in 1986 about their typical night’s
sleep. The researchers then compared their weight every 2 years for 16
years.
The women who slept 5 hours or less were 32% more likely to experience
major weight gain. This meant they gained 33 pounds more. They were
also 15% more likely to become obese.
More sleep benefited the women. Women who slept for 6 hours were 12%
more likely to have major weight gain and 6% more likely to become obese
compared with women who slept 7 hours a night. According to Patel,
“Prior studies have shown that after just a few days of sleep
restriction, the hormones that control appetite cause people to become
hungrier, so we thought that women who slept less might eat more. But in
fact they ate less.” This means appetite and diet are not accounting
for the weight gain in women who sleep less.
This is the largest study to track the sleeping habits on weight gain
over time. The researchers couldn’t find any differences in physical
activity that could explain why women who slept less weighed more.
The researchers are not clear why less sleep causes weight gain. "We
don't have an answer from this study about why reduced sleep causes
weight gain, but there are some possibilities that deserve further
study," Dr. Patel said. "Sleeping less may affect changes in a person's
basal metabolic rate (the number of calories you burn when you rest).
Another contributor to weight regulation that has recently been
discovered is called non-exercise associated thermogenesis, or NEAT,
which refers to involuntary activity, such as fidgeting or standing
instead of sitting. It may be that if you sleep less, you move around
less, too, and therefore burn up fewer calories."
Dan Wilson
Best Syndication
Books on Dieting
Keywords and misspellings: wate wieght waite wait
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