Sleep More, Weigh Less
Lots of weight loss products promise miracles. One in particular that I recall says a magic pill lets you lose weight while you sleep. Now, groundbreaking new studies are revealing that you don’t even need a mystical (and questionable) potion to lose weight while sleeping; what women in particular need is sleep itself for effortless weight loss. (Do you know of an easier way to lose weight than indulging in lots of restful sleep?)
There’s one caveat though: women need to sleep enough hours to reap the rewards; skimp on sleep and the converse occurs—you’re more likely to put on pounds.
Counting Zzzzzz’s
Are women really more prone to put on pounds when they don’t get enough sleep? Absolutely, says Sanjay Patel, M.D., the lead investigator of the study that revealed the link. To come to this unexpected conclusion, Dr. Patel and his team conducted the largest study of its kind. Starting in 1986, they began to track the sleep habits of almost 70,000 middle-aged women; at the same time, they linked the number of hours each slept each night to weight gain. The sleep-less, weigh-more link was there at the start of the study: women who slept 5 hours or less nightly already weighed about 5.4 pounds more than those who managed seven hours or more each night. Over the next 10 years, the more sleep-deprived women gained an average of 1.6 pounds yearly. While this may not seem like much, over a period of 10 years, this could mean 16 added pounds, or 32 pounds over a 20-year period.
Over the course of the 16-year study, the researchers found that about 33% of women who sleep five hours or less per night are at greatest risk for weight gain. Specifically, these women gained 33 pounds or more over time, while 15% of them gained even more weight and became obese. In comparison, 12% of the women who sleep just one hour more each night—for an average of six hours—are likely to gain weight, with 6% becoming obese; those who typically manage 7 hours or more nightly gained the least weight.
Women’s’ Sleep Less World
If you’re a woman and you find it difficult to get to sleep or stay asleep, you have a lot of company.
We value and respect the experiences of all of our HERWriters, but everyone is different. Many of our writers are speaking from personal experience, and what's worked for them may not work for you. Their articles are not a substitute for medical advice although we hope you can gain knowledge from their insight.
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