I harp on this all the time with my patients who are trying to lose weight......so much so that I feel like a nag. But I know I'm doing the right thing so I keep on doing it hoping that it sinks in. Sometimes my nagging works and patients know that I'm going to ask about it so they just do it to please me. haha Whatever works right? So what is this magical thing that's so important for weight loss?
SLEEP!!!
We are sleep-deprived as a society! And now thanks to research that appears in the Oct. issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, I have even more ammunition to push my position. The research out of the University of Chicago shows that a person who sleeps too little will inhibit their fat loss by 55%! A staggering amount. This was a cross over trial meaning that they used the same individuals keeping the diet constant with the only variable changing being sleep. For one period of the study, they slept for a hearty 8.5 hrs and then for the other period, they slept for 5.5 hrs. No exercise, just diet in the study.
When the dieters got 8.5 hrs of sleep, slightly more than half of the weight they lost was from fat, whereas only one-forth of the weight lost was from fat during the period they got 5.5 hrs a day.
It should be noted that the diets were strictly controlled in this study, but in the real world, sleep deprivation also leads to an increase in appetite and one would raid the fridge. That's because a lack of sleep increases a hormone called ghrelin, which makes you hungry.
Take home message: Get at least 8 hrs of sleep per night and some of you may need more.
Yours in health,
Ian Koo, ND
Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine
Naturopathic Essentials Health Centre
"The care you want, the health you need"
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