Sleeping more reduces calorie intake?

Chicago: Fitness enthusiasts and those dealing with obesity try out every possible weight loss method under the Sun to get the desired results. But what if one’s sleep can do the trick just as good? Now, a new study on how getting sufficient sleep affects caloric intake in a real-world setting attempted to change how […]

Chicago: Fitness enthusiasts and those dealing with obesity try out every possible weight loss method under the Sun to get the desired results. But what if one’s sleep can do the trick just as good? Now, a new study on how getting sufficient sleep affects caloric intake in a real-world setting attempted to change how we think about weight loss.

The study was published in ‘JAMA Internal Medicine’. Understanding the underlying causes of obesity and how to prevent it is the best way to fight the obesity epidemic, according to Esra Tasali, MD, Director of the UChicago Sleep Center at the University of Chicago Medicine. “The current obesity epidemic, according to experts, is mostly explained by an increase in caloric intake, rather than lack of exercise,” she said.

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In a randomised clinical trial with 80 adults, Tasali and her colleagues at UChicago and the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that young, overweight adults who habitually slept fewer than 6.5 hours a night were able to increase their sleep duration by an average of 1.2 hours per night after a personalised sleep hygiene counselling session.

The sleep intervention was intended to extend time in bed duration to 8.5 hours — and the increased sleep duration compared to controls also reduced participants’ overall caloric intake by an average of 270 kcal (calories) per day. “Over the years, we and others have shown that sleep restriction has an effect on appetite regulation that leads to increased food intake, and thus puts you at risk for weight gain over time,” said Tasali.

“More recently, the question that everyone was asking was, ‘Well, if this is what happens with sleep loss, can we extend sleep and reverse some of these adverse outcomes?” Tasali added. The new study not only examines the effects of sleep extension on caloric intake but, importantly, does so in a real-world setting, with no manipulation or control over participants’ dietary habits.

“In our earlier work, we understood that sleep is important for appetite regulation,” said Tasali, adding, “Now we’ve shown that in real life, without making any other lifestyle changes, you can extend your sleep and eat fewer calories. This could really help people trying to lose weight.”