OTL

There appears to be proof of a sleep & weight gain link according to new research studies.

Groups of individuals were observed over a period of time to see whether sleep disturbances had any influence on weight gain and surprisingly these two health conditions may indeed have a closer association than had first been conjectured.
A study conducted by researchers at Finland’s University of Helsinki reports that the testing of subjects began in 2000.

Participants consisted of thousands of individuals who had reported difficulty either going to sleep or staying asleep for a full 6-8 hours. The heights and weights of all test subjects were also documented. Women who had sleep problems were noticed to have gained 11 or more pounds of body weight over a 5-7 year period when compared to testing subjects who had reported no difficulty with their sleeping habits.

Some scientists believe that lack of sleep of difficulty sleeping can reduce the circulating levels of certain hormones in a person’s body. They are tracking 2 hormones in particular. These hormones are known as ghrelin and leptin and these compounds act as appetite regulators for humans. When sleeping problems occur the brain is unable to create enough of these specific hormones and this could result in overeating behaviors.

Now that researchers seem to have pinpointed an internal cause that can be linked to problems with overeating new studies there are sure to be new studies that will be scheduled. These future studies will be conducted to determine if treatment of sleep disturbances will also be helpful with weight management.