A new study by researchers in Ohio has found that women who fail to get enough sleep at night risk gaining weight.
The study examined the sleeping habits of 68,183 women over a 16-year period. The subjects provided information about their typical night's sleep and data was given about their weight every two years.
The researchers found that women who got an average of five hours of sleep or less per night were 32 percent more likely to gain 33 pounds or more over the course of the study than women who slept seven hours per night or more. Those sleeping less than five hours per night were also 15 percent more likely to become obese.
Dr. Sanjay Patel of Case Western Reserve University, the lead researcher of the study, told Reuters that the weight gain is 'very clinically significant in terms of risk of diabetes and heart disease.'
Patel indicated that there was no other explanation as to why the women who slept less gained more weight. 'We actually found that women who slept less, ate less,' he told Reuters. 'In terms of exercise, we saw a small difference in that women who slept less exercised slightly less than women who slept more but it didn't explain the magnitude of our findings.'
Possible reasons for the difference in weight gain, according to Patel, include that sleeping less may lower a person's basic metabolism. It is also possible that those who sleep less are less likely to fidget or move around while standing still, resulting in a lower number of calories burned.
While additional research is needed, the bottom line is that it is important to get enough sleep to burn those extra pounds away.
