Study reveals women who sleep less tend to gain weight
NEW YORK.– Women who sleep less than five hours a night are more prone to gain weight and become obese, according to a new study.
Researchers had covered some 70,000 middle-aged women involved in the Nurses Health Study in the U.S. for 16 years, recording their weight every two years.
It was found that those who had sleep for about five hours a night were 32 times more likely to put on at least 33 lbs or more and 15 per cent more likely to become obese than sound sleepers during that time.
Prof Sanjay Patel of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, who was the lead author of a report presented to the American Thoracic Society International Conference, said there have been several studies that have shown that at one point in time, people who sleep less weigh more, but this is one of the first to show reduced sleep increases the risk of gaining weight over time.
Prof Patel said the researchers could not get to know any causal link between getting less sleep and putting on weight.
He said, “Sleeping less may effect 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 non-exercise associated thermogenesis, 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.”
Patel said the team’s findings had nothing to do with light sleepers eating too much, or taking too little exercise.