Study finds erratic sleep related to weight gain

Not getting to bed on time could be keeping you from losing a few pounds.

A study just published in the American Journal of Health Promotion has linked an inconsistent sleep schedule with higher body fat percentages in young women.

The study was done on 330 women within two years of age 20. They had height and weight measured and sleep schedules monitored for seven days and seven nights.

Findings first confirmed what has be found in previous studies, that a lack of sleep and oversleep is related to weight gain. Women who regularly received less than six-and-a-half hours of or more than eight-and-a-half hours of sleep were more likely to be overweight. This has been studied before on multiple occasions with similar results.

The data that came from the study did suggest some new findings. It seems getting to bed on time not just so you can get the right amount of sleep, but also at similar times each night, is important. Women who had variations of when they went to sleep between days of more than 90 minutes also had more body fat than those with regular sleep patterns.

With these new findings the authors do note that while their findings suggest getting a consistent seven to eight hours of sleep each night is important, the best indicator of body fat in women is physical activity. Women who exercised regularly in the study were much more likely to have low body fat percentages.