If you are familiar with our program, you know that sleep is king when it comes to weight loss. Here is yet another study that shows the link between sleep and weight.
The University of Colorado Hospital monitored a small group of healthy weight adults for a period of 2 weeks in their sleep clinic. Researchers found that participants whose sleep was limited to 5 hours or less per night gained almost 2 pounds in just one week when they were given unlimited access to food.
You can see how chronic sleep deprivation could lead to a significant weight gain in a short period of time if this trend continued. That’s an 8 pound weight gain per month!
Another interesting thing about the sleep deprived group, was that they actually ate smaller meals. Meaning breakfast, lunch and dinner. The majority of their caloric intake came after dinner in late-night snacking. So, if you know you didn’t get enough sleep for some reason, try to curb the late-night snacking to avoid over consuming calories. Instead of snacking, make yourself a cup of tea or have something high in protein, such as greek yogurt or cottage cheese.
One more thing the researchers noted was that there was a difference between men and women in the rested group. This group was allowed nine hours of sleep per night. Men in this group gained weight when given unlimited access to food even though they were well-rested. Women on the other hand were more likely to maintain their weight even when allowed to have more food. This may mean that men have to be more careful about portion sizes and listen to their body’s hunger signals more carefully than women.
Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-57573818/lack-of-sleep-and-unlimited-food-access-a-recipe-for-weight-gain/
