Research, suggesting that a good and adequate night’s sleep is essential to not gaining weight, is my favourite kind of research. It validates my need for 8-9 hours of sleep a night.
To read more on how lack of sleep affects children’s weight gain, you can read today’s post here over on my other blog.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Shefaly, so you too?, I had this strange habit of sleeping 9/10 hours especially during exam time, so that I am totally fresh for my exams, and even after college I used to enjoy decent sleep.
now its a little disturbed but then the quantity is still 7/8 hours
Rambler: Absolutely! If you follow the link to the Obesity blog you will see more about the reasons why.
I like to joke that if I were a spy, I would not last very much. All they need to do is to keep me awake for 2 days and I will gladly blabber all, in return for being allowed to sleep
Individual needs for sleep vary greatly. Margaret Thatcher could famously work on 4 hours a night (although some may argue which is why her judgement was questionable in some respects…).
But the available research does not separate this effect of individual need of sleep. Not yet anyway.
Thanks.
I need 9 too, but maybe that’s because coffee screws you up… =)
Shefaly:
Besides needs for sleep varying from individual to individual, a number of other factors also operate:
Age, for one; most people, as they grow older, seem to need less sleep. Or they split it into two or more instalments — 4-5 hours at night, a couple of hours of siesta in the afternoon, and I also know some elderly people who like to take a short mid-morning nap between breakfast and lunch.
Lifestyle also plays a role. Frequent late nights — addas, partying (especially with drinks), concerts — can thoroughly screw up the system. Long siestas on weekends go a long way in restoring the balance.
@ Riddlej: Interesting point. I find coffee still works as a stimulant and serves to destroy my bedtime, pushing it to later hours, but amazingly not my wake-up time with the result that I get less sleep with coffee. So your point is quite valid. Thanks for your note.
@ Vivek: There are many factors that modulate sleep in children and in adults of various ages. Gaining weight is a public health problem that manifests in highly individual ways. I have just completed a long time chasing a case study of obesity for my PhD, and I am now an official obesity bore. Which is why I write an entire obesity blog! You can read more there. More about the raison d’etre of the obesity blog here.
Okay, Shefaly, I’ll visit your other blog one of these days, when I have mustered the necessary fortitude. But this much I can say in advace: A fat lot of good it is going to do me!
Avoirdupoistically,
Vivek.
ohhhh thankfully i m not the only one,
all my early morning plans, jogging, walking, gym have miserably failed bcoz i JUST can’t pull my butt out until 8 hours r clocked in. But now i have reasons to sleep. Wah! life couldn’t be better. Sleep n lose weight.
Oh you cud check out how me and my alter debate myself early morning at my blog. It is indeed a tough task!
n thanks for the useful info!
Minal: If you read the full post on the other blog, you will see that ‘sleep to lose weight’ is exactly NOT the message that scientists want to pass on. But I can see how tempting it is to interpret it that way. Thanks for your note.