Not just diet and physical activity. To lose weight, sleep also has its weight. In fact, a study shows that sleeping at least 7 or 8 hours, instead of just 6 or less, could help improve eating habits and lose a few pounds.
If it was already known that lack of sleep is a risk factor for obesity, today’s survey measures even more directly the effects of regular sleep and the right duration on nutrition. The research, conducted by the University of Chicago Medical Center, is published on Jama International Medicine.
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I study
The researchers involved 80 participants aged 21 to 40, with excess body weight. At the start of the study, which lasted 4 weeks, the volunteers rested an average of 6 and a half hours. This interval is shorter than that recommended in international guidelines, which is approximately 7-9 hours for adults. During the study, the researchers tracked sleep and dietary changes, particularly calories consumed daily.
In the first 2 weeks, the researchers limited themselves to taking note of the sleeping habits of all participants. Then they divided them into 2 groups, of which only one received suggestions to improve this routine with simple rules. One of the main and most effective tips is to avoid using smartphones and other electronic devices before going to bed, if possible for at least an hour.
270 calories less
The group that received recommendations for a good sleep slept at least an hour more, going from about 6 and a half hours to about 7.5 to 8 hours. The aim of the research was to reach an even longer duration, up to 8 and a half hours. The results indicate that in the group that received the advice, the volunteers ate 270 fewer calories on average than the other group. Some have even gone as far as cutting 500 calories. It should be noted that there was no greater push from the outside towards weight loss. This strategy is limited to the duration of the study, but the authors suggest that, if extended and maintained longer, it could lead to steady weight loss.
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“The work is interesting and valuable for several reasons,” he comments Luigi De Gennaro, Full Professor of Sleep Psychophysiology at Sapienza University of Rome, not involved in research. “In the meantime, it is one of the few studies built specifically to investigate the relationship between an improvement in sleep habits and eating habits”.
In fact, there are other researches on the subject, conducted on larger samples of the population, as the expert says, but in some cases these can hide confusing elements. “In this case, the survey is structured in a targeted manner”, adds De Gennaro, “and also the approach with which the reduction of caloric intake is evaluated is innovative. It is based not on questionnaires filled in by the participants but on objective analyzes. . The analyzes are based on the doubly marked water method ‘”.
This technique allows to evaluate the total caloric intake in a certain period and, combined with other estimates, allows to obtain the desired measure, that is the caloric intake. Finally, De Gennaro continues, the results are important because they help to deepen the relationship between sleep and food with data that are also useful for informing the population.
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Sleep and nutrition, linked by a thread
Science has already shown that too short or poor quality rest is also often linked to a less healthy diet and the risk of overweight and obesity. And this is also seen in clinical, psychological and psychiatric practice.
If sleeping poorly is bad for the diet, the opposite is also true. “According to the data of today’s study, the result is also valid in the opposite direction,” explains De Gennaro, “that is, sleeping better and more could also have benefits in nutrition”. Now the authors are trying to investigate the underlying mechanisms. “We know that there are two central hormones linked to hunger,” explains the expert, “leptin, which promotes satiety, and ghrelin, which promotes appetite. Sleep disturbances and too short a night’s rest can have a negative impact on the balance of these 2 hormones, decreasing leptin and increasing ghrelin “, thus increasing hunger.
That there is a link between food and sleep is also known and evident from clinical practice, when it comes to pathologies. “People with eating disorders often also have problems related to sleep”, concludes De Gennaro, “but the opposite is also true: those who have alterations in the sleep-wake rhythm in some cases can develop a dysfunction linked to eating behavior”.