We already know that lack of sleep can lead to poor productivity at work, increased risk of heart attacks, and even early death. Now, you can add weight gain to the list.
In a study presented at an American Heart Association event in San Diego, researchers found that sleep deprivation can lead to overeating, thus overtime increasing one’s likelihood of becoming obese.
Researchers studied 17 healthy men and women for eight nights. Half of the participants slept normally, while the other half were only able to snooze for two-thirds of their usual amount. They ended up sleeping one hour and 20 minutes less than the control group.
Each day, all the participants were able to eat as much as they wanted. Researchers found that the sleep-deprived group ended up consuming 549 more calories every day.
Despite the extra time spent awake, the group’s activity levels didn’t change, so they didn’t burn any more calories than usual. And as we all know, consuming more calories than you burn leads to weight gain.
Almost 30 percent of adults get less than six hours of sleep, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), while only 31 percent of high school students get at least eight hours of sleep. It’s recommended that adults get 8 hours of sleep and children 10 to 11 hours.
The study’s researchers noted that while the findings suggest getting enough sleep is a preventable cause of obesity, larger studies are needed to help confirm their findings.
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