Caution, Less Sleep Can Trigger Eating Overrated!

A number of volunteers in a study who slept only 5 hours per night during weekdays have weight gain nearly two pounds (0.9 kg).

After seeing the results of this study, the scientists also concluded that adequate sleep can help the battle against the obesity epidemic.

  "I think sleeping with the extra time will not actually cause weight loss. Weight problems and obesity is much more complex than that" said Kenneth Wright, director of the Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory at the University of Colorado-Boulder, who lead the research.

"But I think it can help. If we could combine a healthy sleep weight loss and weight maintenance programs, our findings show that it can help people to gain healthy weight. But more research is needed to test this hypothesis" added Wright.

"Just a lack of sleep, by itself, will not lead to weight gain," said Wright. "But when people do not get enough sleep, it can lead to eating more than is really needed".

For this study, the researchers followed 16 young adults who stay slim and healthy for about 2 weeks at the University of Colorado Hospital. All participants spent the first 3 days with the opportunity to sleep 9 hours a night and eating are controlled to maintain weight.

But, after a few days, the volunteers were divided into two groups: the first group to spend 5 days with only 5 hours of sleep and the other group spent 5 days with 9 hours of sleep. In both groups, the participants offer great food and have access to a selection of snacks throughout the day ranging from fruit and yoghurt ice cream and potato chips.









On average, the volunteers who slept for 5 hours per night burn 5 percent more energy than those who sleep up to 9 hours a night, but they consume more calories than 6 percent.

Those who sleep less also tend to eat a small breakfast, but excessive consumption of snacks after dinner. In fact, the total number of calories consumed in the evening snacks are larger than the usual daily calories. The current findings add to growing evidence to suggest that binge eating at night may lead to weight gain.