{"id":4320,"date":"2012-03-20T06:00:08","date_gmt":"2012-03-20T10:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/candostreet.com\/blog-parents\/?p=4320"},"modified":"2012-03-19T17:18:49","modified_gmt":"2012-03-19T21:18:49","slug":"not-enough-sleep-may-be-contributing-to-your-weight-gain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/candostreetny.com\/blog-parents\/not-enough-sleep-may-be-contributing-to-your-weight-gain\/","title":{"rendered":"Not Enough Sleep May Contribute to Weight Gain"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"sleep\"<\/a>According to an article published in women’s health.gov, those of us who are not getting enough sleep may be consuming more than 500 extra calories each day.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h1>\n

These findings are the outcome of a recent small study in which healthy young men and women were studied for eight nights.<\/p>\n

Half of the participants got their normal amount of sleep (control group) while the other half got only two-thirds of their typical amount of sleep (sleep-deprived group).<\/p>\n

All the participants were allowed to eat as much as they wanted during the study.<\/p>\n

Those in the sleep-deprived group slept one hour and 20 minutes less each night than those in the control group, and consumed an average of 549 additional calories per day.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

Both groups burned about the same amount of energy for activity, which suggests that those in the sleep-deprived group didn’t burn additional calories.<\/p>\n

Lack of sleep was associated with increased levels of leptin and decreased levels of ghrelin, both of which are appetite-associated hormones. These changes were more likely a result of overeating, rather than the cause of overeating, according to the study, which was presented last week at an American Heart Association (AHA) meeting.<\/p>\n

“Sleep deprivation is a growing problem, with 28 percent of adults now reporting that they get six or fewer hours of sleep per night,” study co-author Dr. Andrew Calvin, a cardiology fellow and assistant professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic, said in an AHA news release.<\/p>\n

Although this study suggests sleep deprivation may be an important and preventable cause of weight gain and obesity, it was a small study and does not prove a cause-and-effect relationship, the researchers noted.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n

“Larger studies of people in their home environments would help confirm our findings,” Calvin said.<\/p>\n

Because this study was presented at a medical meeting, the data and conclusions should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.<\/p>\n

SOURCE: American Heart Association, news release, March 14, 2012<\/p>\n

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