If you cut back on sleep, it will lessen the impact of dieting, according to a new study in “Annals of Internal Medicine.” Therefore, if you are seeking to shed pounds, be sure to get good-quality sleep.
In the study, when dieters got a full night’s rest, they lost the same amount of weight as when they slept less. The key here, though, is fat. When they got adequate sleep, more than half of the weight they lost was fat. When they cut back on their sleep, only one-fourth of that weight reduction was from fat. Poor sleeps meant a 55% loss in fat reduction.
What’s more is they felt hungrier, which can hurl a diet off track. When sleep was restricted, dieters produced higher levels of “ghrelin,” a hormone that triggers hunger and reduces energy expenditure.
The Chicago-based study tracked 10 overweight volunteers aged 35 to 49. All were placed on an individualized, balanced diet, with calories restricted to 90% of what each person needed to maintain his or her weight without exercise.
Each participant was studied twice: once for 14 days in the laboratory with an 8.5-hour period set aside for sleep; and once for 14 days with only 5.5 hours for sleep. They spent their waking hours engaged in home- or office-like work or leisure activities.
During the first phase, volunteers slept an average of seven hours and 25 minutes each night. In the second phase, they slept five hours and 14 minutes. That is more than two fewer hours asleep. They consumed the same number of calories (about 1,450 per day) in each two-week phase.
In each phase, they lost an average of 6.6 pounds. In the adequate sleep phase, they lost 3.1 pounds of fat and 3.3 pounds of fat-free body mass, mostly protein. In the shortened sleep weeks, they lost an average of 1.3 pounds of fat and 5.3 pounds of fat-free mass.
Getting adequate sleep also helped control the dieters’ hunger. Average levels of ghrelin did not change when dieters spent 8.5 hours in bed. When they spent 5.5 hours in bed, their ghrelin levels rose over two weeks.
The message is clear. There is now proof that the amount of sleep makes a big difference on the results of a diet. Don’t ignore a healthy sleeping pattern or you simply won’t burn as much fat.
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