Your gym sessions may be on hold and your diet may be on point, but if you don’t hit the hay at the right time, you could be stalling your progress towards getting slim. While we are constantly told that getting enough sleep is a necessary part of the weight loss journey, getting enough sleep is often a neglected aspect of a healthy routine. Now, a new study hopes to put that issue to bed once and for all, showing how just 80 minutes less sleep can negatively impact our goals.
While much of the available information on sleep deprivation focuses on the extreme, this recent research Irving Medical Center at Columbia University was founded to determine what happens to our weight during mild sleep deprivation.
A Columbia University sleep study explained
The research team led by Marie-Pierre Saint-Onge, a professor of nutritional medicine at Columbia, aimed to replicate the problem of about 30% of the population by taking adults who usually get the recommended 7 to 8 hours of sleep and delaying their sleep by 90 minutes for six weeks. This 90 minute extension equates to about 80 minutes less sleep.
Sleep and physical activity were measured during this six-week period, along with body weight, waist size, and hormonal changes.
Does sleep deprivation cause weight gain?
After six weeks of mild sleep deprivation, 95 older participants gained an average of one pound. “While the one-pound weight gain seen with a modest reduction in sleep isn’t incredible, it’s important to remember that it only happens over a six-week period.” explained Faris Zuraykat, the first author of the study. “Our study was designed to mimic the sleep patterns that most adults experience on a regular basis. When extrapolated over a full year, we expected that a loss of less than an hour and a half of sleep per night could lead to clinically significant weight gain.”
Additional health risks from lack of sleep
Scientists have also found other problems for those who sleep less but want to lose more weight. During the sleep restriction phase of the experiment, the level of physical activity increased. “Even when we calculated that they were awake longer when sleep was shortened, participants spent more time inactive than when they were getting enough sleep,” Zuraykat said. “This is noteworthy because people who are more sedentary have an increased risk of chronic diseases.”
Now, scientists hope to build on their findings through publicity the many health benefits of sleep. “Although more research is needed to understand how sleep restriction leads to weight gain, all of our findings suggest that insufficient sleep increases the risk of obesity-related diseases such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease,” St-Onge said. “Now we need to understand the health effects of improving sleep in those who don’t get enough sleep on a regular basis.”
The take home message? If you want to reach your activity goals and lose the optimal amount of weight, move less and sleep more.
