A message to night owls: There's news that your bedtime -- and those late-night snacks -- may be preventing you from dropping those stubborn extra pounds. A recent study took on an important, and under-examined, aspect of the sleep-weight loss connection: how the timing of sleeping -- and of eating -- can affect weight. Researchers at Northwestern University examined the effects of sleep timing on diet and body-mass index (BMI), and found that late bedtimes and late mealtimes can lead to less healthful diets and to weight gain.
A group of 52 adults -- 25 women and 27 men -- spent seven days keeping food logs and having their sleep and waking activity measured by a wrist sensor. The researchers divided participants into two categories of sleepers:
Researchers tracked the eating habits of these two types of sleepers through the information provided to them from the participants' food logs. Not surprisingly, "normal sleepers" and "late sleepers" were on very different schedules, in terms of when they ate throughout the day:
What were the consequences for sleeping later and eating later? Researchers found that late sleepers suffered across the board, in terms of the quality and quantity of both their daily sleep and eating:
These habits of late sleepers -- sleeping less, going to sleep later in the night, and eating more after 8 p.m. -- were all found to be associated with a higher body mass index. Among these habits, eating after 8 p.m. was the strongest predictor of a higher BMI. What does this mean? It's not just what you eat, but when you eat, that can affect your ability to lose weight. And your sleep habits can have a significant influence on the timing of your eating, as well as on how much you eat.
Previous studies using mice have shown results similar to these. Mice whose sleep-wake cycles were disrupted by exposure to light during their normal sleeping hours ate more and gained more weight than mice whose cycles remained intact. This new research has given us a strong start in examining this aspect of the sleep-weight relationship in humans. More investigation is needed, but these results do align with much of what we already know about sleep and weight:
This is not just an issue for adults. Kids -- teens especially -- are particularly prone to late and erratic bedtimes, midnight snacks, and a general lack of sufficient sleep, which can lead to weight gain. We know that adolescents require more sleep than adults, but they're too often making do with much less sleep than they need to function well, and with obesity an increasingly common health problem for children as well as adults, this new research provides yet another reason kids and teens need the structure of a sleep schedule -- one that includes curbing eating at a reasonably early hour. Weight problems that develop during childhood and adolescence can have long-term consequences that affect health for a lifetime. Let's give our kids a healthy start by helping them develop the skills they need to eat and sleep well.
Come to think of it, that's advice we can all take to heart.
Sweet Dreams,
Michael J. Breus, PhD
The Sleep Doctor™
www.thesleepdoctor.com
The Sleep Doctor's Diet Plan: Lose Weight Through Better Sleep
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But I could've gotten fat if I had an unhealthy lifestyle. I put effort into eating healthy- If I get hungry before 2am, I just snack on a handful of cereal or cracker. And I hardly ever drink soda. I don't eat more food when I eat at 10pm, I eat the same amount as I would on weekends. I'm not a health nut- I love the occasional burger or frequent instant dinner. I eat when I'm hungry, and stop when I'm not. I don't like salad, but I like raw spinach and real fruit smoothies.
As a student, I rarely have hours to exercise, so I walk instead of bus when it's safe/convenient, take the stairs, and dance to my music during study breaks. So, go figure, my less-than-healthy sleep amount doesn't seem to be increasing my weight, since I have an otherwise healthy lifestyle.
Of course, you just described me as if you knew me: no breakfast, eating too late, up too late, not enough sleep.
Gah.
Now a calorie counts on what time you ingest it. I'm sticking with the basics, thank you.
not getting enough sleep altogether is a recipe for disaster.
My schedule is all over the place. During the week I go to bed at 1, 2, or 3 am...eat as late as I want, only eat 2 to 3 meals a day, fast for 16 hours everyday and workout. Sometimes on the weekends I don't even go to sleep...but somehow I manage single digit body fat levels. At 6'4" 220 lbs I'm in very good shape, perfect blood work, etc. Not sure what this 'study' proves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_sleep_phase_syndrome