Posted on 01/11/2005 3:43:48 PM PST by Aussie Dasher
A STUDY published today found that people who sleep less tend to be fat, and experts said it was time to find out if more sleep would fight obesity.
"We've put so much emphasis on diet and exercise that we've failed to recognise the value of good sleep," said Fred Turek, a physician at Northwestern University in the US.
"In fact society emphasises just the opposite", he said, pointing to workplaces where long work days were common.
Today's study from Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk covered 1000 people and found that total sleep time decreased as body mass index - a measure of weight based on height - increased.
Men slept an average of 27 minutes less than women, and overweight and obese patients slept less than patients with normal weights, it said.
In general the fatter subjects slept about 1.8 hours a week less than those with normal weights.
"Americans experience insufficient sleep and corpulent bodies. Clinicians are aware of the burden of obesity on patients," the study said.
"Our findings suggest that major extensions of sleep time may not be necessary, as an extra 20 minutes of sleep per night seems to be associated with a lower body mass index.
"We caution that this study does not establish a cause-and-effect relationship between restricted sleep and obesity, (but) investigations demonstrating success in weight loss via extensions of sleep would help greatly to establish such a relationship."
The study was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine along with an editorial by Dr Turek and Northwestern colleague Joseph Bass commenting on it and related research.
In a separate interview, Dr Turek said some studies had shown sleep deprivation caused declines in an appetite suppressing protein hormone called leptin, and increases in another hormone that caused a craving for food.
In addition neuropeptides in the brain governing sleep and obesity appeared to overlap, he said.
"It is now critical to determine the importance of lack of sufficient sleep during the early formative years in putting our youth on a trajectory toward obesity ... a trajectory that could be altered if sleep loss is indeed playing a role in this epidemic," the editorial said.
Obesity had been rising dramatically in developed countries and had reached epidemic levels in the US, it said, leading to a variety of health problems.
"In recent years, a new and unexpected 'obesity villain' has emerged, first from laboratory studies and now ... in population-based studies: insufficient sleep.
"However, while there is a growing awareness among some sleep, metabolic, cardiovascular, and diabetes researchers that insufficient sleep could be leading to a cascade of disorders, few in the general medicine profession or in the lay public have yet made the connection."
Maybe if we wake them up in 300 years, they will have fallen from the obese category by then.
Bodybuilders try to get as much sleep as possible and often take naps.
More sleep = less time to eat!
You can shed kilos - but can you shed pounds?
I'll defer to the scientists on that one!
How can they be sure that the correlation between less sleep and obesity isn't due to the fact that obese people often have trouble sleeping soundly?
If losing weight were that easy, I would simply take a bunch of naps...sleep is not THE solution, IMO.
Sleep alone isn't the answer, but to say that a good nights rest isn't beneficial isn't right. It might not help you lose weight, but it will make you feel better.
How can they be sure that the correlation between less sleep and obesity isn't due to the fact that obese people often have trouble sleeping soundly?
More Sleep = Less Exercise != Less Weight.
I think I spoke highly of the restorative qualities of sleep.
BTW, welome to FR!. You are the first '05 Freeper I've seen!
Shed kilo's? kilo's of what, pot, coke or some other illegal substance?
1. People who exercise tend to get a better quality of sleep, and may sleep a little longer because they're physically tired. But fat people aren't exercising much. In addition, fat people have a tendency to develop sleep apnea or other obstructive respiratory problems so they can't sleep as much at night. So it's not that the lack of sleep is causing obesity; rather, it's that obesity is causing a lack of sleep.
2. Chronic stress can indirectly cause a tendency to gain weight because it makes us release corticosteroids, which alter carbohydrate metabolism. And lack of sleep can come directly from stress. So, again, it's backwards.
Makes as much sense as algebra normally does!
More Sleep = Less Exercise
More Sleep = Less Eating
Obesity = Poorer Sleep Quality
etc.
Algebra: Too many variables, not enough equations.
I think they're talking about LARD.
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