Irregular Sleep Instigates Weight Gain And Diabetes

Your body burns calories 24/7. How fast these calories are vaporized is called your metabolic rate. Keep your metabolic rate high by exercising and you’ll have an easier time taking off pounds. Let it slow from hours watching TV and you may gain weight. Plus, if you sleep at irregular hours and don’t get enough consistent shut-eye, your metabolic rate may shut down.

When researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital disrupted people’s biological clocks by making them sleep at odd times, they found their metabolic rates slowed and their blood sugar increased. Both of these developments make you more vulnerable to weight gain and diabetes.

In this study, the scientists found that having people sleep as long as they needed at a consistent time every day boosted their metabolic health.

“We think these results support the findings from studies showing that, in people with a pre-diabetic condition, shift workers who stay awake at night are much more likely to progress to full-on diabetes than day workers,” says researcher Orfeu M. Buxton, Ph.D. “Since night workers often have a hard time sleeping during the day, they can face both circadian disruption working at night and insufficient sleep during the day. The evidence is clear that getting enough sleep is important for health, and that sleep should be at night for best effect.”