Having trouble falling asleep? Forget sleeping pills–instead, losing weight could cure insomnia, according to researchers from the University of Pennsylvania.
Reporting their findings at the joint meeting of the International Society of Endocrinology and the Endocrine Society in Chicago, researchers say that obese adults who lost at least 5 percent of their body weight began experienced longer, more improved quality of sleep over a period of six months.
“This study confirms several studies reporting that weight loss is associated with increased sleep duration,” says Nasreen Alfaris, M.D., M.P.H., a fellow in the Department of Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, who led the study. “Further studies are needed to examine the potential effects of weight regain in diminishing the short-term improvements of weight loss on sleep duration and sleep quality.”
In the study, researchers recruited 390 obese adults to take part in the Practice-Based Opportunities for Weight Reduction at the University of Pennsylvania trial, or POWER-UP. Taking place over a period of 2 years, researchers compared three treatments for improving weight loss in obese adults. All participants were randomized to one of three programs, which included educational information on how to lose weight, brief lifestyle counseling sessions with primary care providers and lifestyle coaches, and brief lifestyle counseling sessions paired with meal replacements or weight loss medications.
At the end of the study, researchers found that, not surprisingly, those who had received lifestyle counseling lost more weight on average than those who had not–about an average of 7.8 to 14.7 lbs. However, researchers also found that those who lost at least 5 percent of their body fat after six months on the program also gained 21.6 minutes of sleep per night.
In addition, the weight loss seemed to improve their mood–something that also improved the quality of their sleep.
“It’s not so much that if you sleep, you will lose weight, but if you are sleep-deprived, meaning that you are not getting enough minutes of sleep or good quality sleep, your metabolism will not function properly,” says Michael Breus, Ph.D., a clinical director for the sleep division for Arrowhead Health in Arizona. “Ghrelin is the ‘go’ hormone that tells you when to eat, and when you are sleep-deprived, you have more ghrelin. Leptin is the hormone that tells you to stop eating, and when you are sleep deprived, you have less leptin.”
While researchers did not speculate on why losing weight improved their sleeping habits in the press release, Breus–along with other scientists–believe that hormones may play a role in why this occurs.
Of course, further studies are needed to determine how effective losing weight is for battling insomnia.
“You are eating more, plus your metabolism is slower when you are sleep-deprived,” says Breus.
Readers: How does losing weight affect your sleep cycle?
Sources:
Lack of Sleep Spurs Weight Gain (Research) – WebMD.com
Study: Obese Adults Who Lose Weight Also Sleep Better on Average – ScienceDaily.com
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