Can sleep-deprivation cause weight gain?

NEW YORK:

People who got very little sleep ate more, but did not necessarily burn any extra calories in a new study that adds to evidence supporting a link between sleep deprivation and weight gain.

The new findings show that “sleep should be a priority,” said Michael Grandner, who studies sleep and sleep disorders at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

“If you’re trying to be healthy, don’t forget that getting healthy sleep is probably an extremely important part of being healthy,” said Grandner.

Previous studies have tested the link between sleep, diet and weight in multiple ways. Some surveyed large populations of people with questions about their sleeping and eating habits and tracked their future health conditions. Others, including those working on the new report, looked at a smaller group of people very closely, manipulating their sleep schedule and observing how their food cravings and appetite responded.

Both kinds of research have generally supported the idea that less sleep is associated with more extra weight.

Link between sleep and eating

There are a few possible explanations behind the link between sleep and eating, researchers explained. One is that shut-eye is important for the hormones that help control how much we eat. Sleep “seems to play a role in how your body manages the hormones that control how hungry you are, when you’re hungry and what kinds of foods you’re hungry for,” said Grandner.

Another explanation is that when we’re tired, we don’t make healthy eating decisions. “It’s possible that when you’re on short sleep, you’re more susceptible to giving in to your desires,” said Marie-Pierre St-Onge of the New York Obesity Research Centre.

Vicious cycle

Meanwhile, Grandner also added that it is possible the link goes both ways, and that eating too much of certain kinds of foods can disrupt a person’s sleep schedule. Or, someone who has a stressful job may sleep too little and also eat too much as a result.

Too little sleep has also been tied to a host of other problems including heart disease and diabetes — which have their own associations with weight, complicating the picture even further.





Published in The Express Tribune, July 10^th, 2011.