Losing 30 minutes of sleep every day may promote weight gain

Washington: A new research has speculated that losing 30 minutes of sleep per day may promote weight gain and adversely affect blood sugar control.

The study conducted at losing as little as 30 minutes of sleep per day on weekdays can have long-term consequences for body weight and metabolism.

The lead study author Professor Shahrad Taheri, MBBS, PhD, professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, in Doha, said that While previous studies have shown that short sleep duration is associated with obesity and diabetes, they found that as little as 30 minutes a day sleep debt could have significant effects on obesity and insulin resistance at follow up.

Professor Taheri and his colleagues recruited 522 patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus in the Early Activity in Diabetes trial and randomized them into one of three groups i.e. usual care, physical activity intervention, or diet and physical activity intervention.

Participants completed 7-day sleep diaries and calculated their weekday sleep debt and at baseline, the researchers recorded their height and weight to determine obesity status, measured their waist circumference for central adiposity, and analyzed their fasting blood samples for insulin sensitivity.

At baseline, compared with participants who had no weekday sleep debt, those who had weekday sleep debt were 72 percent more likely to be obese, and by the 6-month mark, weekday sleep debt was significantly associated with obesity and insulin resistance and at 12 months, for every 30 minutes of weekday sleep debt at baseline, the risk of obesity and insulin resistance was significantly increased by 17 percent and 39 percent, respectively.

The authors advised that future interventions designed to slow progression or reverse metabolic disease should consider all factors including sleep that affect metabolic function.