Studies reveal that poor sleep can hinder weight loss, know why

The National Institute of Diabetes And Digestive And Kidney Diseases has revealed that more than one in three adults in the United States are overweight. They have also revealed that more than one in three adults are also suffering from obesity which further exposes them to health problems like diabetes and heart diseases.

The problem of sleep variability

Moreover, most adults also suffer from a lack of quality sleep. Although a human adult needs 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep to function normally, statistics have stated that 36% of people from the US population do not feel rested when they wake up in the morning. This is suggestive of lack of good sleep.

Insufficient sleep may affect circulation, memory, and social relationships according to studies. A new study published in the International Journal of Obesity has also found a link between overweight people who do not get enough sleep lost less weight than those who sleep well.

Professor Jordi Salas Salvado stated that, “The rise in obesity prevalence rates over the past decades parallels an epidemic of sleep disturbances.”

“In this context, the PREDIMED-Plus, a new ongoing primary cardiovascular prevention trial based [on] an intensive weight-loss lifestyle intervention program, provides an unprecedented opportunity to examine the 12 month changes in weight and adiposity measures between those participants with short or adequate sleep duration and between those with low or high sleep variability,” he continues.

What they found

The clinical trial is focused on studying the health effects of the Mediterranean diet in Spanish cohort groups. Medical data of 1986 people were studied over the course of one year.

The participants of the study were overweight at the beginning. They also had metabolic syndrome, low glucose tolerance, and high levels of blood lipids.

After following their weight loss programs and sleeping habits for one year, researchers found that participants who didn’t get consistent sleep hours every night lost less weight after one year than the ones who did.

“The findings of our study highlight the importance of sleep characteristics on weight and adiposity responses to lifestyle intervention programs in elders with metabolic syndrome,” the research concludes.

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