sleep and weight gain

new studies show that women who get 5 or fewer hours of sleep per night are more likely to experience weight gain and become obese over a long period of time, as compared to women who get seven hours. scientists aren't sure why this is.
i found this article very interesting and just wanted to share :) i'll link it below. make sure you get enough sleep!

Link

Thu. May 25, 6:50pm

Interesting, but not exactly new. It's been known for some time that sleep deprivation (<6 hrs/night) for a week puts people into a "pre-diabetic" state of insulin insensivity. One would guess that being pre-diabeticand unable to properly regulate blood sugar would make it easier to put on weight, wouldn't one? This seems more like it confirms that is the case.

(I doubt the researchers are completely ignorant of the existing literature on sleep deprivation, but the reporter obviously is.)

Friday, May 26, 2006, 4:55 PM

Sleep and muscle recovery

Here's another angle on the sleep quantity being important to keeping yourself in a healthier weight range: Research has shown that the vast majority of your muscle recovery happens in the last couple hours of a normal night's sleep. If you don't sleep long enough, you never hit full muscle recovery. Without your muscles working at full capacity, your abilty to burn calories decreases, your metabolism slows and you gain weight more easily.

Just sleep longer!

Friday, May 26, 2006, 11:25 PM

your body has several different cycles- and many of these cycles reset while sleeping. Not getting enough sleep doesn't let many of your body's systems reset. And when your body isn't working right, you will often gain weight.

Saturday, May 27, 2006, 12:17 AM

I need AT LEAST 8 hours of sleep!

Saturday, May 27, 2006, 12:59 PM

sleep deprivation

I WISH I could get some sleep. I sleep only about 3 hours a night & can't get back to sleep. I even take Xanax at night to try to help me sleep. It puts me to sleep, but I don't stay asleep. I've read several articles about the sleep/weight issue, but it seems impossible for me to get any more sleep. I don't feel tired during the day & wake up with plenty of energy after the 3 hours. I'm hoping this won't be too detrimental to my weight loss plans.

Sunday, May 28, 2006, 8:51 AM

If you wake up full of energy after 3 hours of sleep, maybe you only need 3 hours of sleep. The 8-9 hours is most people, but many people need significantly more, and a few people need significantly less. I've met a couple of people (I mean two, in forty years) for whom 3 hours of sleep was perfectly natural. They were both total geniuses, too -- maybe that says something really good about you!

Sunday, May 28, 2006, 10:31 AM

Wow, for the 2nd poster you sound a little bitchy. Maybe the op has only just heard of this.

Sunday, May 28, 2006, 10:56 AM

geniuses & sleep

I wish! But thanks for the feedback. I guess this is just the amount of sleep necessary for me to function & I can't use it as an excuse for the weight gain!

Sunday, May 28, 2006, 3:39 PM

Thanks, 10:56 am poster

Thank you for your comment - it always amazes me when I read these postings in the lounge how people can affect such an air of superiority and be so condescending towards others - we are here for support and the sharing of information - not to be put others down. You make a great observation that the OP had perhaps not heard that information before.

Sunday, May 28, 2006, 11:18 PM

now, I'm NOT the "bitchy" poster- however-

did you guys think that maybe when they say "reporter" they do mean "reporter" and not poster? That perhaps the intent was to let others including the OP know that there is more research out there, and perhaps to pursue the matter further?

Interpreted as such, it isn't bitchy or condescending, it is informative. Do we need to sugar coat even purely informative posts??

I get SO sick of those who whine about "negative" stuff. Can't deal with it, take your ball and go home.

Monday, May 29, 2006, 12:31 AM

Yes, and you are the most negative of all.

Monday, May 29, 2006, 6:23 AM

Ok, back to the topic! To the poster with insomnia - I hear you, it's been a lifelong struggle for me. Now I take low doses of Trazadone and that helps me. It's inexpensive too if you get a large supply at Costco. At higher doses it's an antidepressant but at lower doses it helps with sleep, and helps me stay asleep. Good luck! I'm also trying Melatonin and that seems to be helping too, although I wouldn't recommend it if you are a woman trying to get pregnant (can suppress ovulation.)

Monday, May 29, 2006, 6:26 AM

Sleeping and mediation

When it comes to getting enough sleep, the biggest problem for most of us is actually finding the time to do it as so many of us lead busy lives. But sometimes, even when one has the time (i.e. it's 3 am and one is lying in bed), it can be difficult to sleep.

I've found that mediation tapes can be helpful. Jon Kabat-Zinn is a Professor of Medicine emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where he was founding executive director of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society (according to his biography on his web page). He has a book on his meditation ideas which one should be able to pick up at any library - Full Catastrophe Living.

My mother read the book and suggested I read it. I did. We both liked it so much that we each got a set of tapes from him that have fairly straightforward guidance on meditation. His tapes provide guided meditation, so you can listen to them straight through. They are more like relaxation tapes than anything else. I find that I can fall asleep during one of the longer tapes (not necessarily what he is getting at, but . . . ).

Anyway, when I have trouble sleeping, I listen to one of his tapes which is like listening to a series of instructions on relaxation and I find it can be very helpful.

Link

Sunday, June 04, 2006, 7:56 PM

i read that lack of sleep releases stress hormones. if you go back to our caveman ancestors, stress usually meant famine / illness, not that big deadline at work. famine / illness meant you needed to conserve calories and put on weight. so i guess it makes sense that chronic lack of sleep makes you gain weight.

my personal experience is that i weight less after 10 hours of sleep on the weekend than after 5 hours on a weekday, everything else being equal.

Monday, June 19, 2006, 11:23 AM

to the 11:07 poster...

have you looked into the possibility of chronic fatigue syndrome? the centers for disease control have a website with a lot of info...

Tuesday, June 27, 2006, 11:25 AM

Some of the sleep studies suggest that shorting your needed sleep even slightly (as little as 16 minutes a night on an ongoing basis) can increase the risk of weight gain, obesity, and diabetes.

Link

Saturday, May 19, 2007, 11:31 PM

sleep deprivation-weight gain

As I write this, it is 4:27 a.m. Pacific time. Needless to say, I struggle with sleep deprivation as well as a correlating 20 pound weight gain over the last 2 years. It's a bit of a vicious cycle......as I lay there trying to get back to sleep, now not only do I worry about having the energy to get through the next day, I also fret about the extra pound I'll probably put on if I don't get my eight hours!!! Hardly conducive to drifting off to dreamland!

Sunday, May 20, 2007, 7:38 AM

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