Consistent Bed and Wake Time Linked to Lower Body Fat

A latest study highlights a strong correlation between consistent bed time and wake up time to healthier weight.

According to the study conducted by researchers at the Brigham Young University, women who woke up at the same time everyday had lower body fat.

There is plenty of evidence available that links lacks of sleep to gain in body weight. Apart from this, insufficient sleep makes one grumpy and foggy. Problems with sleep is known to increase the risk of heart diseases, infertility, depression, anxiety and mental health problems. But this new study discovered that consistency in sleep time and wake up also impacts weight.

The study led by Bruce Bailey, exercise science professor at BYU was conducted on more than 300 women of ages 17-26 from two Western U.S. universities.  They were first assessed for their body composition and were also given an activity tracker that would record their everyday movements during the day and measure their sleep patterns. The sleep patterns of the participants were measured for nearly one week.

The researchers noticed that those women who went to bed and woke up at or around the same time everyday had a lower body fat  compared to those who had irregular sleep patterns. The women with more than 90 minutes of variation in the sleep and wake time had a higher body fat, whereas those with 60 minutes of variation had a lower body fat.

"We have these internal clocks and throwing them off and not allowing them to get into a pattern does have an impact on our physiology," Bailey said in a statement.

They also discovered that those women who slept between 8-8.5 hours per night had the lowest body fat.

This study adds to all the previous studies that draw a link between sleep quality and body fat. Better sleep leads to lower body fat.

"Sleep is often a casualty of trying to do more and be better and it is often sacrificed, especially by college students, who kind of wear it as a badge of honor," Bailey said.

The study was published in the American Journal of Health Promotion.