Lack of sleep and weight gain: Intriguing preliminary research findings
I became a firm believer in the importance of adequate sleep several years ago when a Wyoming Highway Patrolman gave a field sobriety test to several senior 4-H members during an educational program I helped coordinate. One 4-H member did not pass the test, not because she had been drinking alcohol, but because she had not slept much for several days due to studying for final exams. The patrolman stated that drivers suffering from sleep deprivation were a growing problem on the state’s highways. Research over the last several years is also finding a possible link between sleep deprivation and weight gain. The theory is that lack of sleep may actually increase your appetite, which can result in weight gain. Other studies suggest a possible link with sleep deprivation and an increase in blood sugar and blood pressure.
Jennifer Motl, a registered dietitian, jokingly refers to adequate sleep as vitamin Z. She states that adjustments in eating and physical activity routines may also need to be teamed with adjustments in sleeping routines to achieve long term goals associated with weight, blood sugar and blood pressure.
According to a 2005 poll conducted by the National Sleep Foundation, adult Americans now sleep about seven hours a night. In the 1960's, it was estimated that most adults in the United States were sleeping about nine hours a night. Could the decrease in sleep hours be one piece of the puzzle explaining why obesity rates have more than doubled in the U.S. since the 1960's?
In a laboratory setting, sleep deprivation has proven to cause both rodents and humans to eat more. Research studies in the United States, Britain, Japan and Brazil have all linked less sleep with being overweight or obese.
Sleeping less than five hours a night was linked to a greater risk of diabetes in the Nurses Health Study that followed 70,000 women in the U.S. Smaller studies in Germany, Sweden, and Finland found similar results linking lack of sleep to a greater risk of diabetes in both men and women.
Sleep apnea is a sleep-disordered breathing condition. Researchers at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago found that controlling sleep apnea could improve blood sugar levels in people with diabetes. Individuals with diabetes who wore a special breathing mask for at least four hours a night saw their blood sugar levels drop by about 40 percent during the day.
A Japanese study found that going 24 hours without sleep caused blood pressure to increase by about 16 percent in healthy individuals.
Current theories suggest that lack of sleep causes the body to produce more stress hormones and these hormonal changes can make us hungrier. Lack of sleep many also lead to feelings of tiredness that could limit people’s energy levels to be physically active and could also cause people to be more vulnerable to overeating.
When it comes to a healthy lifestyle, don’t underestimate the importance of vitamin Z (sleep). Research from around the world strongly suggests that adequate sleep is an important component of both eating normal portions and having the energy to be physically active.
Source: Motl J. Sleep more, lose weight. Links between obesity and the lack of sleep are intriguing. The Free Lance-Star. www.fredericksburg.com. August 8, 2005.
Compiled by Betty Holmes, MS, RD
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