Despite dozens of different diets – from low-carb and low-fat to “Stone Age” paleo diets and plain dinner-cancelling – the incidence of obesity is increasing worldwide. It has been known for years that less sleep is more likely to be associated with weight gain. US scientists have now proven in a practical experiment: 1.2 hours more sleep leads to 270 kilocalories less energy intake per day in test subjects.
“There is well-established evidence that regularly sleeping less than seven hours a night is associated with negative health effects. In particular, it is increasingly recognized that insufficient sleep is a significant risk factor for obesity. (…) On the other It is still unclear whether increasing sleep duration can be an effective strategy for obesity prevention or weight loss,” write Esra Tasali and co-authors from the University of Chicago Department of Public Health in the journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA internal medicine). The study is currently one of the current scientific studies most read by doctors in the USA.
Epidemiological observations are one thing, experimental evidence is something else entirely: Between the beginning of November 2014 and the end of October 2020, the scientists conducted a study with 80 test persons. 41 of them were men. All participants were overweight with a body mass index (BMI) between 25 and 29.9. A BMI over 30 is considered obese. The participants, mean age of 29.8 years, typically slept less than 6.5 hours per night.
In the clinical study, half of the group (selected at random) were encouraged to get as much as 8.5 hours of sleep a night as possible through counseling and sleep hygiene measures. Weight, energy intake, energy consumption, etc. were meticulously monitored using technical means. The same was true for sleep duration. After a two-week start-up phase without intervention, the actual study then lasted another two weeks. The subjects stayed at home and went regarding their normal lives as usual.
The evaluation showed a potentially enormously important effect for avoiding obesity and for weight loss. The scientists: “The group with more sleep showed a significant reduction in energy intake (minus 270 kilocalories per day) compared to the control group. There was no significant effect of this ‘treatment’ on energy expenditure (…). Improving or ensuring A healthy sleep pattern for longer periods might be part of obesity prevention and weight loss programs.”
Apparently more sleep curbs the appetite, because diets etc. were of course avoided in the study. Even small regular changes in calorie intake (also in calorie consumption) have a significant long-term effect on body weight. The authors of the study cite scientific observations, according to which a hundred kilocalories more energy intake per day leads to a weight gain of 4.5 kilograms within three years.
Short-term experiments in the laboratory had already led to similar indications regarding the effect of more sleep on the energy intake of test subjects. “As far as we know, this study is the first to provide evidence of a positive effect of increasing the duration of sleep to a healthy extent on the objectively measured energy intake and body weight in test subjects in their normal living environment,” the experts stated in the recent study Days appeared investigation firmly.
A few years ago, statistics were circulating according to which the Austrians, with almost 3,800 kilocalories per day, are internationally at the forefront when it comes to energy intake. With only light physical activity, an energy consumption of between 2,000 and 2,400 kilocalories is assumed for women and men. 270 kilocalories less energy intake per day through more sleep would in itself be a significant limitation without any diet. “Adieu, diets” might also be a motto for losing weight in the future.
