Inadequate Sleep Leads to Instant Weight Gain: Study

The downside of inadequate sleep is not just limited to terrible mood swings but also to certain serious health hazards.  A latest finding shows an alarming relation between inadequate sleep and weight gain.

According to researchers at the University of Colorado, people who get just five hours of sleep were more likely to overeat and gain weight. The weight gain shown in this study was immediate when compared to previous long-term studies. The study suggests that the only way to battle the obesity epidemic is by having sufficient sleep.

In the current study, the researchers observed 16 young, lean, healthy men who lived for two weeks at the University of Colorado Hospital which had a sleep suite.

The researchers noticed that the first three days, the participants spent nine hours a night sleeping and ate food given by the researchers. The food given had the necessary calories that were required to maintain their weight. Later the participants were divided into two different groups.

The first group slept for just five hours for all the five days while the other group slept for nine hours on all five days. Both the groups were given large quantities of food and also an access to grab snacks throughout the day. They could eat fruits, ice cream, yogurt, and potato chips. The groups were switched after five days.

Those who slept for five hours a night burned 5 percent more energy when compared to those who slept for nine hours a night. But what was common was that they both used 6 percent more calories. The group that had less sleep consumed small quantities for breakfast but binged on after-dinner snacks. The total calories consumed in evening snacks were more when compared to the individual meal.

"When people are sleep-restricted, our findings show they eat during their biological nighttime when internal physiology is not designed to be taking in food," Kenneth Wright, director of CU-Boulder's Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory who led the study, said in a news statement.  

Apart from this, they also noticed a difference in the way men and women responded to the access of unlimited food. Men gained weight with adequate sleep, while women maintained their weight with adequate sleep, irrespective of the amount of calories they consumed.

The details of the study were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.