Consistent Sleep Habits Promote Healthier Weight

Establishing and maintaining a pattern of going to sleep and waking up at the same time every day has been shown by previous studies to beneficially impact patterns of hormones, food consumption, and physical activity. Bruce W. Bailey, from Brigham Young University (Utah, USA), and colleagues enrolled 330 university-aged women, in a study to ascertain sleep patterns and their effect on weight. At the study's start, the subjects were first assessed for body composition and given an activity tracker to record their movements during the day and the sleep patterns at night. The researchers tracked sleep patterns of the subjects for one week. The team found that those subjects who went to bed and woke up at, or around the same time each day, had lower body fat. Those with more than 90 minutes of variation in sleep and wake time during the week had higher body fat, as compared to those with less than 60 minutes of variation. Specifically, wake time was most particularly linked to body fat. Those who woke up at the same time each morning had lower body fat.  Observing that: "Inconsistent sleep patterns and poor sleep efficiency are related to adiposity,” the study authors conclude that: "Consistent sleep patterns that include sufficient sleep may be important in modifying risk of excess body fat in young adult women.”