Despite many different diets – from low-carb and low-fat to “Stone Age” paleo diets and plain dinner-cancelling – the incidence of morbid obesity is increasing worldwide. It has been known for years that less sleep is more likely to be associated with weight gain.
US scientists have now proven in a practical experiment: 1.2 hours more sleep leads to 270 kilocalories less energy intake per day in test subjects.
“There is well-founded evidence that regularly sleeping less than seven hours per night is associated with negative health effects. In particular, it is increasingly recognized that insufficient sleep is a significant risk factor for obesity. On the other hand, it is still unclear whether increasing sleep duration can be an effective strategy for obesity prevention or weight loss,” write Esra Tasali and co-authors from the University of Chicago Department of Public Health in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The study is currently one of the current scientific studies most read by doctors in the USA. The scientists conducted a study with 80 subjects between the beginning of November 2014 and the end of October 2020. 41 of them were men. All participants were overweight with a body mass index (BMI) between 25 and 29.9. A BMI over 30 is considered obese. The participants, mean age of 29.8 years, typically slept less than 6.5 hours per night.
In the clinical study, half of the group (selected at random) were encouraged to get as much as 8.5 hours of sleep a night as possible through counseling and sleep hygiene measures. Weight, energy intake, energy consumption, etc. were meticulously monitored using technical means. The same applied to the prescribed sleep duration.
Sleep curbs appetite
Conclusion: “The group with more sleep showed a significant reduction in energy intake (minus 270 kilocalories per day) compared to the control group. Apparently more sleep curbs appetite, because diets were of course avoided in the study. Small changes in calorie intake already regularly (of course also in terms of calorie consumption) have a significant long-term effect on body weight.
The authors of the US study cite scientific observations, according to which an energy intake of one hundred kilocalories per day leads to a weight gain of 4.5 kilograms within three years.
Healthy while you sleep
We sleep through a third of our lives. It’s not a waste of time, it’s essential. Too little sleep makes you sick and fat.
- Recreation: During sleep, the body and brain recover: they repair themselves during this time.
- Annoy: During sleep, the brain stores what it has experienced, learned and practiced during the day. Therefore, the brain reshapes during sleep or new nerve connections grow.
- Immune Power: Sleep strengthens the immune system. During the day, the body’s defenses are in constant use. At night, the body gets the immune system going again.
- Metabolism: Sleep keeps your metabolism in sync. If he doesn’t get enough sleep, he gets confused. This increases the risk of becoming overweight or developing diabetes.
Source: Nachrichten
