Recent articles floating about are saying that sleep has a direct effect on weight. They allude to the sleep deprivation most of us now face as being part of why we as a whole are getting fatter.
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Are the sleepless counting doughnuts and pies instead of sheep? "Americans sleep less than they used to, and this could be part of the reason why more of us are now overweight," says David Dinges, Chief of the Division of Sleep and Chronobiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
Over the past 40 years, Americans have cut their snooze time by one to two hours a night. We now sleep less than people in any other industrialized country. And researchers are discovering that sleep affects hormones that regulate satiety, hunger, and how efficiently you burn calories.
Too little sleep may make you hungry, especially for calorie-dense foods, and may prime your body to try to hold on to the calories you eat. It may also boost your insulin levels, which increases the risk of heart disease and diabetes.
The Sleep-Weight Link
"Obesity is obviously a very complex issue, and no one is suggesting that lack of sleep is the cause of the obesity epidemic," says Carl Hunt, director of the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.
"But new research certainly supports the idea that sleeping less may be a previously unknown but important contributor to the obesity epidemic in the U.S."
The link between sleep and weight was first noticed in the 1990s, when European researchers were puzzling over why so many children were getting heavier.
"They were surprised to discover that it wasn't how much TV a child watched, but how much sleep the child got, that best predicted whether he or she was overweight," says Dinges. "The less children slept, the heavier they were."
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I know that I am sleep deprived; I am one of those that needs 8 hours, but during the week, usually get 6.5-7. On weekends, I sleep 8-9.
I don't believe this is across the board, that there are exceptions-most notably my son, who sleeps maybe 6 hours a night during the week and is under 50% for his height. He doesn't generally sleep in on weekends, but will sometimes fall asleep around dinner time. He has always been this way, even as an infant, so it may be a matter of those that are truly deprived of their required sleep are the ones that have the weight problems, while those who just don't need it fare well.