Want to lose weight? Sleep more and better

Study reveals that good night's sleep helps in burning fat for dieters

Having a solid night's sleep may not seem the best recipe for losing weight, but several studies show the importance of having an efficient sleep. A new study shows that not getting enough sleep can severely compromise the ability of people to lose extra fat.

Researchers found that when someone on a diet has a full night's rest, more than doubles the amount of weight lost from fat. Tired people also reported feeling more hungry than when they had a good night's sleep. The study results were published on October 4 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

"Sleeping less - behavior ubiquitous in modern society - seems to frustrate efforts to fat loss," said Plamen Penev, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago and coauthor of the study. The study participants lost about 55% more fat when sleep was enough.

For the study, 10 overweight volunteers (aged 35-49 years with a mean body mass index 27.4 kg) initiated a personalized eating plan that reduced calories (for an average of 1,450 per day) but maintained a sedentary lifestyle. For two weeks, the subjects reported having spent 8.5 hours in bed (with an average time of sleep about 7 hours and 25 minutes), and during a second period of two weeks, were allowed only 5, 5 hours of sleep per night (with an average sleep time of 5 hours and 14 minutes).

During the two study sessions, the volunteers lost about 3 pounds - almost half the amount they slept longer. Metabolism is controlled in part by hormones such as ghrelin, which stimulates hunger and reduces energy consumption. When the study subjects were sleeping less than 6 hours, ghrelin levels rose from 75 to 84 nanograms per liter ng / liter. The levels remained stable when subjects were fully rest.

They followed a strictly controlled diet low in calories even during the two study phases and the difference in weight and fat loss between adequate sleep and sleep deprivation could be even more pronounced.

Other research also suggests that getting enough sleep is crucial to have a good long-term health.