More sleep could help you lose those winter pounds
Story By: Kristin Hawley
Source: KOAA
Do you want to lose weight? Then maybe you just need to get a little more shut-eye.
There are tons of diet books floating around, touting everything from low carb to calorie counting. But now it looks like getting more sleep might be one key to this whole thing.
New research into weight loss is giving us a few clues into the sleep, weight loss connection. According to the CDC, nearly two out of every three of us are overweight. And one in five obese. The good news is that may Americans are actively trying to lose weight and buying up large amounts of diet books and aids. The bad news is that most diets end up not working in the long run. So finding different keys that can help us lose weight and keep it off is important.
One of those keys may have come from a new study. Scientists looked at how much people slept and their weight. They found that those sleeping fewer hours a night also weighed more. But then the question became, did the lack of sleep cause them to gain weight or did gaining weight cause them to lose sleep.
One answer to this question came from a different study. Researchers had men sleep only four hours a night. After a few nights, they measured a chemical in their body called leptin and found less of it when they didn't sleep very much. That's an important finding because this chemical is what the body uses to tell itself it's full and doesn't need more food. So if the chemical is low, maybe because lack of sleep, the body is going to think it needs more food and you'll end up eating more ruining any diet.
