DOES THE LACK OF SLEEP MAKE YOU FAT?

Main Menu | News By Date | News By Supplier | News By Category | About Us

DOES THE LACK OF SLEEP MAKE YOU FAT?
28 March 2007 - University of Bristol

The recent rise in obesity may be partly due to the reduced amount of time we spend asleep, according to new research from the University of Bristol, UK. Dr Shahrad Taheri from Bristol University, and colleagues in the United States, examined the role of two key hormones that are involved in regulating appetite, ghrelin and leptin. Ghrelin increases feelings of hunger while leptin acts to suppress appetite.

People who habitually slept for 5 hours were found to have 15% more ghrelin than those who slept for 8 hours. They were also found to have 15% less leptin. These hormonal changes may cause increased feelings of hunger, leading to a foraging in the fridge for food.

Dr Taheri, lead author of the study, said: “We found that people who slept for shorter durations have reduced leptin and elevated ghrelin. These differences are likely to increase appetite and, in societies where food is readily available, this may contribute to obesity. Individuals who spent less than 8 hours sleeping were shown to have a greater likelihood of being heavier. Good sleep, in combination with other lifestyle modifications may be important in fighting obesity”.

This is the first large population-based study to show a significant association between sleep duration and metabolic hormones. The research examined over 1000 volunteers under “real life” conditions.

Dr Taheri, Clinical Lecturer at Bristol University’s Henry Wellcome Laboratories, and colleagues at Stanford University and the University of Wisconsin studied volunteers from the Wisconsin Sleep Cohort Study, a population-based study of sleep disorders. The participants underwent continuous sleep monitoring, and reported on their sleep habits through questionnaires and sleep diaries. The results are published in the open-access medical journal Public Library of Science Medicine.

Over the last 50 years we have reduced the amount of time we spend asleep by up to two hours a night because of increasing pressures on our time (work, school, family, television, computer games and the internet). The research suggests that this lack of sleep may be contributing to the obesity pandemic.

http://www.bris.ac.uk

About: University of Bristol
The University College of Bristol opened in 1876, after six years of discussions and controversy, in a bid to bring university culture to the provinces. It was the first college in the country to admit men and women on an equal footing.

The University’s Research and Enterprise Development (RED) division was launched in 2000 to stimulate and support an entrepreneurial culture and encourage the growth of technology-based business.

2003 saw the completion of the Dorothy Hodgkin building, named after the University’s fifth Chancellor. The £18 million building is dedicated to research in neuroendocrinology. 2003 also saw the opening of the University’s £5 million Centre for Sport, Exercise and Health.

Work on a new, state-of-the-art engineering building is due to be completed in early 2004. The £20 million BLADE project (Bristol Laboratory for Advanced Dynamics Engineering) will bring together the Engineering Faculty’s six departments to establish Europe’s most advanced dynamics engineering research facilities.

More News:
  • For March 2007
  • From University of Bristol
  • For Superconductors