Read the research that went into Sleep Away the Pounds!

Sleep deprivation has been hypothesized to contribute toward obesity by decreasing leptin, increasing ghrelin, and compromising insulin sensitivity. Click here for more information.

Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) occurs frequently in obese patients and may be reversible with weight loss. Obstructive sleep apnoea and obesity are both independent risk factors for hypertension and increased sympathetic activity. Click here for more information.

Physiologic studies suggest that sleep restriction has metabolic effects that predispose to weight gain. The authors investigated the association between self-reported usual sleep duration and subsequent weight gain in the Nurses' Health Study. The 68,183 women who reported habitual sleep duration in 1986 were followed for 16 years. Click here for more information.

If you manage to get a good night's sleep on a regular basis your chances of staying slim or becoming slimmer are significantly higher, say researchers from Care Western University, Ohio, USA, after monitoring nearly 70,000 women for over a decade and-a-half. Click here for more information.

A link between sleep deprivation and obesity?

Recent journal articles have noted that that the upward trend of obesity mirrors the increasingly severe trend of sleeplessness, especially among working class, where “49% of shift workers stated that, while working, they slept 6.5 hours or less… compared to estimates that the average American slept about 9 hours per night a century ago” (Vorona et al., 2005, p.25). Click here for more information.

Overweight and Obese Patients in a Primary Care

Population Report Less Sleep Than Patients With a Normal Body Mass Index

Robert D. Vorona, MD; Maria P. Winn, MSN, FNP; Teresa W. Babineau, MD; Benjamin P. Eng, MD; Howard R. Feldman, MD; J. Catesby Ware, PhD

Arch Intern Med. 2005;165:25-30.

Insufficient sleep and obesity are common in the United States. Restricted sleep causes important neurocognitive changes, including excessive daytime sleepiness and altered mood. This may result in work-related injuries and automotive crashes. Evidence links sleep loss to hormonal changes that could result in obesity. This article examines the association between restricted sleep and obesity in a heterogeneous adult primary care population. Click here for more information.

The Impact of Sleep Deprivation on Hormones and Metabolism

Sleeping and feeding are intricately related. Animals faced with food shortage or starvation sleep less;[8] conversely, animals subjected to total sleep deprivation for prolonged periods of time increase their food intake markedly.[9] Recent studies in humans have shown that the levels of hormones that regulate appetite are profoundly influenced by sleep duration. Sleep loss is associated with an increase in appetite that is excessive in relation to the caloric demands of extended wakefulness.

The regulation of leptin, a hormone released by the fat cells that signals satiety to the brain and thus suppresses appetite, is markedly dependent on sleep duration. Click here for more information.