Add to your diet: 20 minutes of extra sleep each night

If you’re trying to lose weight, here’s something you might add to your diet: 20 minutes of extra sleep each night.

In a study reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers compared body mass index (BMI) to sleep habits in about 1,000 subjects. After taking medical problems and sleep disorders into account, the researchers found that overweight and obese subjects slept less than those with a normal BMI.

So what’s going on in the body that might cause sleep time to affect weight? The most likely suspects are a couple of hormones called ghrelin and leptin. Rising leptin levels trigger a feeling of being “full.” Rising ghrelin levels trigger feelings of hunger. Previous research has shown that among people who average only five hours of sleep each night, ghrelin tends to go up while leptin goes down. The opposite is generally true for people who average eight hours per night.

The good news is that it may not take several hours of additional sleep for overweight people to bring their ghrelin and leptin levels in line. In the study mentioned above, the results suggest that many overweight people may experience benefits by adding just 20 minutes of additional sleep each night.

Sources:
“Overweight and Obese Patients in a Primary Care Population Report Less Sleep Than Patients With a Normal Body Mass Index” Archives of Internal Medicine, Vol. 165, No. 1, 1/10/05, archinte.ama-assn.org