Sleep More to Weigh Less
Karen Kaplan Los Angeles Times
Posted October 5, 2012
Experts have some new weight-loss advice that's sure to be
welcome news: Sleep can be just as important to a successful diet as
healthful eating and exercise.
"Chronic sleep restriction is pervasive in modern societies, and
there is robust evidence supporting the role of reduced sleep as
contributing to the current obesity epidemic," write a pair of
obesity experts in the new edition of the Canadian Medical
Association Journal.
That evidence includes findings that overtired brains prompt
people to eat more, and that some hormones that regulate appetite
and metabolism don't work properly in people who don't get enough
sleep.
The authors of the CMAJ commentary cite an experiment reported in
Annals of Internal Medicine in 2010. Two groups of overweight adults
were put on a diet that forced them to cut 680 calories per day. In
addition, one group slept for 8.5 hours per night and the other
slept only 5.5 hours per night. After two weeks, study volunteers in
the sleep-deprived group had lost 55 percent less body fat than
their well-rested counterparts. They had also lost 60 percent more
lean body mass. The researchers concluded that when the body is
tired, holding on to fat becomes a priority.
The commentary authors conducted their own investigation with 123
dieting adults. After 17 weeks, sleep habits were able to predict
the amount of fat loss, they wrote.
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