Sleep and Obesity

Did you ever wake up in the middle of the night and have the urge to raid the ice box?  There is scientific studies that have shown a relationship between short sleep duration and high body mass index or BMI.  A study by Emmanuel Mignot and his colleagues suggests that it's not just the additional snacking opportunities that make those who don't sleep enough more likely to be overweight.  Intriqued by the connection between sleep and BMI, and recent studies that showed a reduction in the hormone leptin, an appetite control hormone, Mignot set out to study levels of several hormones, known to regulate appetite under real life conditions.

They took advantage of the Wisconsin Sleep Cohort Study, which began in 1989 and is tracking sleep dissorders in the general population.  The Wisconsin study has already shown a link between sleep apnea, a disorder that interrupts sleep, and hypertension.

Mignot and company measured sleep duration immediately prior to blood sampling, BMI, and pre breakfast hormone levels in over one thousand study participants.  They found, and it is coroberated by previous studies, that those who slept less than 8 hours, BMI was inversely proportional to sleep duration.  In other words, those who did not get enough sleep showed a higher body weight than those who did sleep 8 hours.  The study not only showed a reduction in leptin in those who did not sleep enough, but also a raise in the hormone ghrelin, which some believe increases appetite, causing the individual to want to eat more.  These two hormone levels could explain why BMI increases with lack of sleep.

So it is very important that we get a good nights sleep to control these hormones to promote a general better metabolism, and make our exercise and diet programs more effective.  Try to keep electronics out of the bedroom, set a sleep schedule, and invest in a sleep promoting mattress.  Hmm, maybe we can melt away pounds in our sleep.

Sleep Well!