Monday 16 May 2011

Sleep is the slimmer's friend

Missing just one night of sleep can slow your metabolism's performance the next day by 5 per cent according to a European study.

Looking at the sleeping habits of 14 young men, researchers found that missing a single night's sleep reduced the number of  calories spent on basic functions, such as digesting and breathing by 5 per cent when compared with the morning after a good eight hour sleep.


The Swedish researchers suggest that sleeping for eight hours each  of sleep per night might even prevent weight gain.

Christian Benedict writes: "Our findings show that one night of sleep deprivation acutely reduces energy expenditure in healthy men, which suggests sleep contributes to the acute regulation of daytime energy expenditure in humans."



While this isn't news to me, it's something that's quite easy to forget - especially when you've been missing some sleep!  Let's just say it's an early night for me today. 

P.S. Another interesting sleep/weight loss study can be found on the American Academy of Sleep Medicine's Sleep Education blog.

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