Night owl sleep habits can make you put on weight

A study shows that night owl sleep habits can cause a person to put on weight.

A new study done at the UC Berkeley’s Golden Bear Sleep and Mood Research Clinic, says going to bed late at night can lead to weight gain, according to an article onnews.berkeley.edu.

The study found a link between sleep and Body mass index (BMI), and the results are showing that teens and also adults that get to bed late during the week are probably going to put on more weight than those who have an earlier bedtime each night.

The researchers looked at the numbers from over 3,300 participants, youth and adult, and they discovered a gain of 2.1 pounds on the BMI for each hour of sleep lost over a five -year period.

Surprisingly, they found that the gain in BMI held true despite the participants regimen of exercise, TV or computer screen time or even the number of hours they slept overall.

BMI is calculated using the body’s height and weight and is a useful metric for measuring weight gain and obesity.  A healthy BMI is said to be between 18.5 and 24.9.  A BMI of 25.0 to 29.9 is considered overweight and 30.0 or greater is classified as obese.

The data the researchers used came from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.  That study has been recording the behaviors of teens from the United States since 1994.  In the new study, they compared the BMI and the bedtimes for teens at the onset of puberty, during their college-age years and as young adults.

Lauren Asarnow, lead author of the study and a doctoral student in UC Berkeley’s Golden Bear Sleep and Mood Research Clinic said “These results highlight adolescent bedtimes, not just total sleep time, as a potential target for weight management during the transition to adulthood.”

She also added that young people that go to sleep earlier each night “set their weight on a healthier course as they emerge into adulthood.”

Earlier surveys and studies have revealed that teens do not get the recommended amount of sleep each night, and many teens report having difficulty staying alert and awake in school.

Later in life, the natural circadian rhythm shifts toward a later sleep cycle.  The circadian rhythm is the natural body clock that regulates your metabolic and physiological functions.

Other studies have suggested a link between late night owls and mental health.  It appears that people that are going to bed later have an increased risk of developing depression and other mental health related issues.

The hope is that the findings of the study will encourage young adults to be more conscious of the effect of late-night bedtimes, despite the pressure they will feel to be a part of their social group, particularly in a college-type setting.

Even if they are aware of the benefits of earlier sleep times, it will be difficult to maintain that type schedule while being a student.

Habits are hard to break as well.  If teens are used to going to bed a 10 to 11 PM during high school years, they will have a hard time changing their cycle once they are out on their own.  Parents who see the results of the study may want to monitor their children more closely and develop an earlier bedtime ritual at an early age to make it easier later on in life.

No teen wants to gain weight, especially around their peers in a university setting, and it is hoped that these findings will encourage teens and young adults to take their sleeping habits more seroiously.

The co-authors of the study include Allison Harvey at UC-Berkeley and Elanor McGlinchey at Columbia University, along with Ms. Asarnow, who is a researcher on UC-Berkeley’s Teen Sleep Study.

The Teen Sleep Study seeks to assist teens to reset the circadian rhythms of young people that are having trouble sleeping and waking up on time.

The results of the study were published in the October edition of the journal Sleep.

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Teens who sleep less gain more weight in 20s

A study shows that less sleep during the teen years means a person gains more weight by age 21.

Lack of sleep not only puts teens at risk for poor grades, it also puts them at increased risk for obesity, researchers warn.

The study authors analyzed data collected from more than 10,000 Americans when they were aged 16 and 21. Nearly one-fifth of them got less than six hours of sleep a night when they were age 16, and this group was 20 percent more likely to be obese at age 21 than those who got more than eight hours of sleep per night at age 16, the investigators found.

Although lack of exercise and too much time spent watching television were also risk factors for obesity, these behaviors did not account for the link between lack of sleep and obesity, according to the study published online recently in the Journal of Pediatrics.

"Lack of sleep in your teenage years can stack the deck against you for obesity later in life. Once you're an obese adult, it is much harder to lose weight and keep it off. And the longer you are obese, the greater your risk for health problems like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer," study author Shakira Suglia, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University in New York City, said in a university news release.

"The message for parents is to make sure their teenagers get more than eight hours a night. A good night's sleep does more than help them stay alert in school. It helps them grow into healthy adults," Suglia added.

Teens should get nine to 10 hours of sleep a night, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It's known that daytime sleepiness and fatigue affect what and how people eat by triggering cravings and altering appetite. For example, sleep-deprived people find it easier to buy calorie-laden fast food rather than preparing a healthy meal.

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Weight gain triggered by tonsillectomy

A study shows that weight gain in children can be triggered by tonsillectomies used to treat sleep apnea.

Tonsillectomies are commonly done to relieve sleep apnea in children, but a new study confirms that the treatment can speed kids' weight gain -- especially if they're already overweight.

The researchers said that's a concern, because obesity is a risk factor for a range of health problems -- including, ironically, sleep apnea. But they're not advising against tonsillectomy for kids who need it.

Instead, they said, doctors and parents should be aware that a healthy diet and exercise become even more important after children have the surgery.

"You can't just treat the sleep apnea. You have to have nutrition and lifestyle counseling, too," said lead researcher Dr. Eliot Katz, a respiratory disease specialist at Boston Children's Hospital.

A pediatric sleep specialist who was not involved in the study agreed.

"Nutrition and exercise are just as important as treating the sleep apnea with a single procedure," said Dr. Sangeeta Chakravorty, who co-directs the pediatric sleep evaluation center at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.

Obstructive sleep apnea arises when constriction in the airways causes repeated pauses in breathing during the night. In children, the most common cause is swelling in the tonsils and adenoids -- infection-fighting tissues in the back of the throat and the nasal cavity, respectively. And surgery to remove those tissues (known technically as adenotonsillectomy) is often recommended.

Doctors have long known that after the surgery, kids can gain weight at an accelerated clip, Chakravorty said.

But the new study, reported online July 28 and in the August print issue of the journal Pediatrics, offers "certainty" that it's actually an effect of the treatment, Katz said.

That's because children in the study were randomly assigned to have surgery or to "watchful waiting" -- putting off surgery and staying with other options, such as medications to better control any nasal allergies or asthma symptoms.

Altogether, 204 children aged 5 to 9 were assigned to have surgery right away, while 192 stuck with watchful waiting. Katz's team found that over seven months, children who underwent surgery showed a quicker average weight gain, versus kids in the comparison group.

It was a small difference overall, Chakravorty said. And for children who were normal weight, there was no major effect.

"It's not making normal-weight children obese," Chakravorty noted.

But there was a clearer impact on kids who were overweight before surgery. Of those children, 52 percent had become officially obese seven months after surgery, compared with 21 percent of overweight children in the watchful-waiting group, the study found.

There are a few possible explanations for the post-surgery weight gain, according to Katz's team. Calorie-burning may dip when children are no longer laboring to breathe during sleep. And some kids may burn fewer calories during the day because they become less active after their sleep apnea improves. (Paradoxically, poor sleep often causes children to be "hyperactive," rather than drowsy, Katz explained.)

Sleep apnea itself also causes metabolic changes, Katz said. Growth hormone is released at night, and the sleep disorder can interfere with that. So the body may adapt metabolism in an effort to maintain a child's growth.

"When the sleep apnea is relieved, they're set up for rapid weight gain," Katz said.

It was once common for children with sleep apnea to be underweight and have "failure to thrive," Chakravorty noted. For those kids, rapid weight gain after tonsillectomy can be a good thing.

But these days, with childhood obesity on the rise, many kids with sleep apnea are already overweight or obese. If they rapidly put on pounds, Katz said, their sleep apnea might return in six months to a year.

"After surgery, parents are often very satisfied," Katz noted. "Their kids are sleeping better, and they may be better behaved and doing better in school. But there's this insidious issue of weight gain."

Chakravorty agreed that diet and exercise are key for children with sleep apnea -- but she said that's true regardless of the treatment approach. And, for heavy kids, weight loss alone might clear up the sleep apnea.

But if children ultimately do need surgery, parents shouldn't skip it due to worries about weight gain, according to Katz. He noted that if improved sleep apnea symptoms explain the post-surgery pounds, then other treatments -- including medication or continuous positive airway pressure devices -- could also spur excess weight gain.

"I think there are implications beyond surgical treatment," Katz said.

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Does weight gain cause sleep apnea, or does sleep apnea cause weight gain?

This article discusses the link between sleep apnea and weight gain, and other serious consequences of untreated sleep apnea.

When you know that "apnea" is the Greek word for "without breath," you begin to understand how scary sleep apnea can be. Sleeping without breath? That just can't be good for you … and it's not. Because its main symptoms (snoring and daytime fatigue) are easily overlooked, it is one of the most undiagnosed sleep disorders in the country, according to Health Magazine.

Sleep apnea has been shown to be related to a host of health concerns, including hypertension and heart disease, but when it comes to the relationship between sleep apnea and weight gain, which comes first? Does weight gain cause sleep apnea, or does sleep apnea cause weight gain?

In one of those great anatomical double-whammies, the answer to that question is "yes" and "yes." The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute explains that sleep apnea happens when you're asleep and your upper respiratory passages relax. For most of us, that's no big deal. For some people, though, that can cause problems. It may be because their airways are more narrow, their tongues are too big, or their tonsils are too large. And it may be because they are overweight. If you're carrying extra soft fat tissue, it can actually thicken the walls of your windpipe, making it narrower and increasing your risk for sleep apnea. So yes, gaining weight can contribute to getting sleep apnea.

But it doesn't stop there. Because sleep apnea means that you never (and I mean, never) get a good night's sleep, the idea of any exercise seems absurd. It would be like having a newborn baby that doesn't ever grow up. Actually, it would be worse than that because even newborns will let you sleep for a couple of hours at a time. Sleep apnea doesn't. You can wake up gasping for breath every few minutes all night long, or you can just snort and snore and roll over many times in the course of sleep cycle. Either way, you don't ever run a full sleep cycle; your body never really gets the rest it needs to rebuild or rejuvenate. You are exhausted all the time. You know you need to exercise to lose some weight so you can sleep better, but you're out of breath just walking to your car; how in the world are you going to walk around the block or take the stairs instead of the elevator?

And just to add insult to injury, a 2004 PLOS study revealed that sleep-deprived people had higher levels of ghrelin, the hormone our body produces to stimulate appetite, and reduced levels of leptin, the hormone our bodies make to suppress appetite. So, yes, sleep apnea can contribute to gaining weight.

So what's an overweight, sleep-deprived person to do? Don't despair; there are options. Traditional sleep apnea treatments such as CPACs (continuous positive airway compressors) can be helpful. Some people learn to sleep with them all night, every night. Others can never really get quite comfortable with it, but it might be just enough to get them moving in the right direction. Even just walking to the end of the street helps, and many sleep apnea patients enjoy bike riding because it lessens the pressure on their joints. The key is to tackle both issues – weight gain and sleep apnea – together, as improvements in one condition often yield improvements in the other. Just as the two worsen together, so they also improve together. Small changes can make a big impact over time, so the important thing is to talk to you doctor, don't give up, and take it one small step at a time.

If you feel like you never get a good night's sleep, sleep apnea could be to blame. Ask your doctor for more information, and remember that St. Francis offers a Sleep Disorder Center that can help identify the source of your sleeplessness.

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PTSD increases weight gain in women, study claims

A recent study shows that women who suffer from PTSD are more likely to have weight gain and be overweight or obese than women who do not have PTSD.

Women with post-traumatic stress disorder are more likely to be overweight or obese than women without the condition, a new study suggests.

According to the researchers, one in nine women will have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at some point in her life. That's twice as often as men. Women are more likely to experience traumatic events, such as rape, which carry a high risk for PTSD, the study authors said.

"PTSD is not just about mental health, but also has physical health consequences," said lead researcher Karestan Koenen, an associate professor of epidemiology at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, in New York City.

Women with PTSD gain weight faster than women who do not have the condition, Koenen said. "This, in turn, has consequences for the risk of heart disease and all the adverse outcomes associated with obesity," she said.

How PTSD is linked to weight gain isn't known, Koenen said, but it may be caused by the high levels of hormones released because of stress.

These hormones are involved in a range of body processes, including metabolism, she said.

"In addition, women with PTSD may change behaviors that lead to obesity," Koenen said. "There is evidence that people under stress crave high-calorie processed foods, so it could be diet." These women also are less likely to exercise, she said.

Koenen said the same problem may exist in men suffering from PTSD, but this hasn't been well studied.

The new report was published Nov. 20 in the online edition of the journal JAMA Psychiatry.

For their research, Koenen and her colleagues collected data on more than 50,000 women who took part in the Nurses' Health Study II between 1989 and 2009. Their ages ranged from 22 to 44 at the study's start.

The women were asked about the worst trauma they experienced and if they had symptoms of PTSD. Symptoms included re-experiencing the traumatic event, feeling threatened, avoiding social situations and feeling emotionally numb. PTSD was defined as having four or more symptoms over a month or more.

The researchers found that women originally of normal weight who developed PTSD had a 36 percent higher risk of becoming overweight or obese, compared to women who, despite experiencing trauma, didn't develop PTSD.

This finding held even after taking into account other factors, such as depression, that have also been considered major factors in weight gain, the researchers said.

In women who had PTSD before the study period began, weight increased more rapidly than it did among women without PTSD.

Although the study found an association between women having PTSD and a higher risk for obesity, it did not establish a cause-and-effect.

"This important study highlights, once again, the significant impact that psychological disorders can have on physical health," said Simon Rego, director of psychology training at the Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, in New York City. He was not involved with the research.

Rego said trauma and obesity are both common in today's society. They can cause distress, difficulty in functioning and disability, he said, and all these conditions are hard to treat. That's why it's important for doctors to understand the impact of PTSD symptoms -- not only on mental health, but also on physical health.

Treating PTSD might also help in reversing weight gain, he said. "Doctors ... should be encouraged to screen for PTSD, especially in populations at high risk for trauma but also in patients presenting with obesity," he said.

If PTSD symptoms are found, the patient should be referred to a clinical psychologist or other mental-health professional with expertise in treating PTSD, Rego said.

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Children eat more when they lose sleep

A new study from Pediatrics looks specifically at what effects adding and losing hours of sleep have on children, specifically regarding their caloric intake. In short, they found that the less sleep a child gets, the more they eat.

Many studies have shown that kids and adults who sleep less are more likely to be overweight or obese. This correlation doesn't prove that sleeplessness causes obesity: Obesity can lead to sleep problems, and lack of sleep might be associated with socioeconomic factors, less organized homes and other factors that affect weight gain.

But a new experimental sleep study, reported in Pediatrics, actually looked at what adding and subtracting sleep does to weight and caloric intake in kids, and its findings suggest that just changing sleep duration may impact kids' waistlines.

The less you sleep, the more you eat

The researchers asked 37 kids, aged 8-11 years, 27 percent of them overweight or obese, to sleep as usual for the first week of the study. During the second and third weeks the kids alternated between sleeping 1.5 hour more and 1.5 hour less per night for an entire week. Sleep duration was verified by an actigraph -- a device that is placed on the wrist and monitors activity level. On average, the actual sleep difference between the week with increased and decreased sleep was about 2.5 hours.

So what can 2.5 hours do? During the week the kids slept more they reported eating 134 fewer calories per day compared to their intake during the reduced sleep condition, and their measured weight was about half a pound less.

While you may frown upon the 134-calorie decrease, if such a reduction is maintained over a long period of time -- something further studies that last longer than three weeks will need to prove -- this would be enormous. Weight is usually gained slowly, by eating just a little more than necessary over long periods of time. The energy gap is the daily discrepancy between energy intake and energy expenditure, and for American kids, the average energy gap estimate is just 64 calories a day. Eliminating calories in just the double digits daily could prevent further weight gain and doing that in your sleep could be sweet!

The exact mechanism in which sleep affects weight is unclear. After a good night's sleep we might be more active and burn more calories, we might have reduced appetites, and craving for high-calorie foods might be curbed.

Getting a good night's sleep

Getting enough sleep helps kids grow, concentrate in school, feel good, and -- as this study further suggests -- keep a healthy weight.

And while getting enough sleep isn't always easy, one of the factors that affect sleep is in our hands. TV before bed has been shown time and time again to result in kids sleeping later, and having a screen in the bedroom not only reduces sleep -- it is correlates independently with overweight.

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Weight gain during pregnancy linked to autism in children, study claims

A study claims that a mother's weight gain during pregnancy may be linked to autism development in the child.

Can gaining weight during pregnancy provide clues into the cause of autism spectrum disorders?

New research from the University of Utah shows the answer to that question may be yes in some situations. Researchers have uncovered an association between autism spectrum disorders and a small increase in the amount of weight a mother gains during pregnancy. The results of the new study, "Maternal Prenatal Weight Gain and Autism Spectrum Disorders," are published in November edition of the journalPediatrics.

Previous studies have identified links between women's prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) and pregnancy weight gain to an increased risk for the development of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in children. But in the new study from University of Utah, researchers build on prior research by identifying an association between autism spectrum disorder risk and prenatal weight gain, after accounting for important related factors such as a woman's prepregnancy BMI.

"The risk of autism spectrum disorder associated with a modest yet consistent increase in pregnancy weight gain suggests that pregnancy weight gain may serve as an important marker for autism's underlying gestational etiology," said Deborah A. Bilder, M.D., lead author of the study and an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Utah. "These findings suggest that weight gain during pregnancy is not the cause of ASD but rather may reflect an underlying process that it shares with autism spectrum disorders, such as abnormal hormone levels or inflammation."

This small difference in pregnancy weight gain and the association with ASD was found in two separate study groups. Researchers carried out the study by comparing the cases of 8-year-olds living in Salt Lake, Davis and Utah counties. A group of 128 children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders were compared to a control group of 10,920 children of the same age and gender. Researchers also examined a second sample group of 288 Utah children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders and compared their data with that of unaffected siblings. In both scenarios, pregnancy weight gain patterns obtained from birth certificate records were identified as common factors in mothers who gave birth to children born with autism spectrum disorders. Such a small, but consistent finding suggests that these small changes in pregnancy weight gain and ASD may share the same underlying cause. The mother's BMI at the onset of pregnancy was not linked to ASD in either study group.

ASD data utilized for this study were taken from the Utah Registry of Autism and Developmental Disabilities, a Utah Department of Health (UDOH) registry. "Utilizing this database to study possible associations that may shed light on the causes of Autism Spectrum Disorder is essential," said Harper Randall, M.D., medical director at the Division of Family Health and Preparedness at UDOH.

"The findings in this study are important because they provide clues to what may increase the risk of having an autism spectrum disorder and provide a specific direction for researchers to pursue as they search for the causes for autism spectrum disorders," said Bilder. "Doctors have known for a long time that proper nutrition is essential to a healthy pregnancy. Pregnant women should not change their diet based on these results. Rather, this study provides one more piece for the autism puzzle that researchers are exploring."

Autism spectrum disorders are neurobehavioral disorders manifested by a range of impaired social interactions, abnormal language development, and stereotypic behavior and interests. According to the most recent statistics from the Utah Department of Health, estimates show that 1 in 63 Utah children have an autism spectrum disorder. Another study by the CDC released in 2012 suggests the risk may be even higher, estimating Utah's rate at one in 47. Autism spectrum disorder is no longer considered a rare disorder. It is now recognized in 1 to 2 percent of our population. "This calls for further investigation of its underlying etiology as a public health concern," said Bilder.

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Food purchasing is increased after sleep deprivation

A study links sleep deprivation to purchasing more food the following day which could influence weight gain and obesity over time.

People who were deprived of one night's sleep purchased more calories and grams of food in a mock supermarket on the following day in a new study published in the journal Obesity, the official journal of The Obesity Society. Sleep deprivation also led to increased blood levels of ghrelin, a hormone that increases hunger, on the following morning; however, there was no correlation between individual ghrelin levels and food purchasing, suggesting that other mechanisms -- such as impulsive decision making -- may be more responsible for increased purchasing.

Researchers in Sweden were curious as to whether sleep deprivation may impair or alter an individual's food purchasing choices based on its established tendency to impair higher-level thinking and to increase hunger.

"We hypothesized that sleep deprivation's impact on hunger and decision making would make for the 'perfect storm' with regard to shopping and food purchasing -- leaving individuals hungrier and less capable of employing self-control and higher-level decision-making processes to avoid making impulsive, calorie-driven purchases," said first author Colin Chapman, MSc, of Uppsala University.

On the morning after one night of total sleep deprivation, as well as after one night of sleep, Chapman, along with Christian Benedict, PhD, and their colleagues, gave 14 normal-weight men a fixed budget (approximately $50). The men were instructed to purchase as much as they could out of a possible 40 items, including 20 high-caloric foods and 20 low-calorie foods. The prices of the high-caloric foods were then varied to determine if total sleep deprivation affects the flexibility of food purchasing. Before the task, participants received a standardized breakfast to minimize the effect of hunger on their purchases.

Sleep-deprived men purchased significantly more calories (+9%) and grams (+18%) of food than they did after one night of sleep. The researchers also measured blood levels of ghrelin, finding that the hormone's concentrations were higher after total sleep deprivation; however, this increase did not correlate with food purchasing behavior.

"Our finding provides a strong rationale for suggesting that patients with concerns regarding caloric intake and weight gain maintain a healthy, normal sleep schedule," said Chapman.

Follow up studies are needed to address whether these sleep deprivation-induced changes in food purchasing behavior also exist under partial sleep deprivation, though. Additional research should also look into sleep deprivation's potential impact on purchasing behavior in general, as it may lead to impaired or impulsive purchasing in a variety of other contexts.

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Link between poor sleep and obesity

This article discusses how poor sleep can lead to obesity as well as other sleep issues.

Could lack of sleep lead to obesity?

Yes, it is true. We generally overlook disturbed sleeping pattern, relish ourselves with a mug of coffee snug inside a balmy chair and just convince ourselves saying it is normal sometimes. But, don’t ignore it if sleep problems are a regular occurrence in your daily life as it may eventually contribute as a factor to your increasing waistline.

Researchers have suggested that major changes in sleep pattern can alter brain activity, sparking cravings for high-calorie food. If a person does not take adequate amount of sleep, this process impacts secretion of the signal hormones ghrelin, which increases appetite, and leptin, which indicates when the body is satiated. Now, this can trigger in excessive and undue eating without the compensating energy outflow and eventually pave way for obesity.

Studies have also shown that poor sleep or irregular sleep patterns can also play havoc on your hormones thereby increasing their levels abnormally which eventually leads to weight gain. It has also been observed that sleep deprived people crave for junk and sugary foods and even suffer dizziness, tiredness and lack of concentration. 

Further, people who work in late-night shifts are more prone to erratic sleep and are at a risk of developing diabetes. 

Symptoms of sleep disorder: 

- Lack of concentration.

- Feeling tired most of the time.

- Developing a need to drink caffeinated beverages for some instant energy.

- Slow reactions.

- Facing trouble in controlling one’s emotions.

How to cope up with poor sleep and check weight gain: 

If you are facing any of these symptoms, then pay notice to these warning signs and start looking for options to lose weight and pave your way to a better night’s sleep. 

For a start, you can try below mentioned options to improve your sleep and keep weight gain at check.

- Say no to junk food: Yes, the problem of sleeping disorder starts on an innocent note as whenever you feel sleep deprived, you crave for fatty food like potato chips, pastries, something that uplifts your mood instantly. So, fast foods are a big no-no.


- Exercise regularly: According to experts, exercise can help a lot in improving the quality of one’s sleep as it speeds up the metabolism of the body and leaves you feeling a lot more energetic which helps in keeping a check on one’s weight and also aids in proper sleep. But, avoid exercising before bedtime as it may have an adverse effect.


- Take ample amount of sleep: Sleeping for at least 7-8 hours in a day is a must as proper sleep will make one feel energetic, put a check on cravings for high-calorie food and hence save one from being a victim of obesity.

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The Dangers of Sleep Apnea

This article discusses what exactly sleep apnea is and why it is a dangerous condition.

If you suffer from sleep apnea, you may be unaware of the fact. Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder whereby a person suffers from repeated interruptions to their sleep because of breathing difficulties. The patient typically stops breathing for around 10 seconds before the brain is forced to wake up and kick start the breathing process again. Most people with sleep apnea also snore heavily.

Symptoms of Sleep Apnea

Unless your partner has told you that you snore and stop breathing on a regular basis, look out for the following signs of sleep apnea:

• Sore throat in the morning
• Feeling very tired when you wake up
• Waking up repeatedly during the night gasping for air
• Anxiety and depression
• Men may suffer from impotence

Snoring is No Joke

Snoring is often considered to be a bit of a joke, but the reality is that excessive snoring and associated sleep apneais no joke whatsoever. It is bad for your health and extremely bad for your close relationships—most people find it very taxing to sleep with a partner who snores heavily and wakes up multiple times per night snorting and gasping for oxygen. Even if you felt romantic when you first went to bed with them, after a few nights of snoring and snorting, the passion will soon be long gone.

Health Problems Caused by Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea is linked to a number of serious health problems, including:

• Weight gain –   Gaining weight can lead to snoring, which in turn can exacerbate sleep apnea. Unfortunately, poor sleep affects the endocrine system and the body is more likely to crave sugary and starchy foods, which leads to weight gain. So it all becomes a vicious circle.
• Heart disease – People with sleep apnea are much more likely to suffer from heart attacks. This could be as a result of low oxygen levels, but research has also found that some sleep apnea patients have irregular heart rhythms.
• Strokes – Having sleep apnea puts you at greater risk of suffering from a stroke because oxygen deprivation has an effect on blood flow through the arteries and brain.
• High blood pressure – Frequent patterns of interrupted sleep can play havoc with the endocrine system, which affects blood pressure. Oxygen deprivation can also cause spikes in blood pressure.
• Type 2 diabetes – There is no definite link betweensleep apnea and type 2 diabetes, but at least 80% of diabetic patients suffer from sleep apnea.

Other Complications of Sleep Apnea

Aside from the serious health problems listed above, sleep apnea can be hazardous to your wellbeing in a number of other ways. As we have already mentioned, sleep apnea can lead to impotence in men, which is unlikely to be great for your long-term relationships. Excessive tiredness can also contribute to problems at work, or in extreme circumstances, directly cause car accidents if you end up falling asleep whilst driving.

If you suspect you may be suffering from sleep apnea, it is a good idea to make an appointment for a full medical check-up. Ignoring the problem is not likely to make it go away, whereas if you seek treatment, you could be on the way towards obtaining a CPAP breathing machine and seeing a significant improvement in your sleep patterns.

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Study: Sleep restriction reduces insulin sensitivity in boys

A study shows that short periods of sleep restriction in boys leads to reduced insulin sensitivity which can lead to insulin resistance, weight gain, obesity, and other health issues.

Background:

Short sleep duration has been linked to impaired glucose metabolism in many experimental studies. Moreover, studies have reported indications of an increased metabolic stress following sleep restriction.

Objective:

We aimed to investigate the effects of partial sleep deprivation on markers of glucose metabolism. Additionally, we aimed to investigate if short sleep duration induces a state of endocrine stress.

Design:

A randomized crossover design, with 2 experimental conditions: 3 consecutive nights of short sleep (SS, 4 h/night) and long sleep (LS, 9 h/night) duration.

Subjects and Measurements:

In 21 healthy, normal-weight male adolescents (mean ± SD age: 16.8 ± 1.3 y) we measured pre- and post-prandial glucose, insulin, C-peptide, and glucagon concentrations. Furthermore, we measured fasting cortisol, 24-h catecholamines, and sympathovagal balance.

Results:

Fasting insulin was 59% higher (P = 0.001) in the SS than the LS condition as was both fasting (24%, P < 0.001) and post-prandial (11%, P = 0.018) C-peptide. Pre- and post-prandial glucose and glucagon were unchanged between conditions. The homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) index was 65% higher (P = 0.002) and the Matsuda index was 28% lower (P = 0.007) in the SS condition compared to the LS condition. The awakening cortisol response and 24-h norepinephrine were not affected by sleep duration, whereas 24-h epinephrine was 24% lower (P = 0.013) in the SS condition. Neither daytime nor 24-h sympathovagal balance differed between sleep conditions. Short wave sleep was preserved in the SS condition.

Conclusion:

Short-term sleep restriction is associated with decreased insulin sensitivity in healthy normal-weight adolescent boys. There were no indications of endocrine stress beyond this.

Citation:

Klingenberg L; Chaput JP; Holmbäck U; Visby T; Jennum P; Nikolic M; Astrup A; Sjödin A. Acute Sleep Restriction Reduces Insulin Sensitivity in Adolescent Boys. SLEEP 2013;36(7):1085-1090.

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Why night owls gain weight

This article looks at why night owls tend to gain more weight than those to go to sleep early.

Night owls are more likely to gain weight than people who get good sleep because they tend to graze the kitchen for junk food in the wee hours of the morning, a new study suggests.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found that people who were kept up until 4 a.m. in a sleep lab ate more than 550 additional calories during the late-night hours.

"People consumed a substantial amount of calories during those late-night hours when they would normally be in bed," said study author Andrea Spaeth, a doctoral candidate in the psychology department at the University of Pennsylvania. "Those calories also were higher in fat compared to the calories consumed at other times of day."

As a result, subjects kept up late gained more weight during five days of sleep deprivation than people in a control group who were allowed to get good sleep, Spaeth said.

Late-night overeating is likely the result of hormonal changes that occur in people who are sleep-deprived, said Dr. W. Christopher Winter, medical director of the Martha Jefferson Sleep Medicine Center in Charlottesville, Va.

They tend to experience an increase in their levels of ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates hunger cravings, and a decrease in levels of leptin, a hormone that makes people feel full.

"Now you're in a situation where you are craving bad food and more of it, and your body feels less full when it gets that bad food," Winter said.

The research team monitored the eating habits of about 200 people who, for five days straight, were kept up until 4 a.m. and then allowed only four hours of sleep. They remained in the lab the whole time, going through in groups of four or five at a time.

Subjects were allowed to eat whenever they liked, and trained monitors in the sleep lab maintained a running tally of the amount consumed and the times at which they ate.

Researchers then compared their calorie intake and weight gain to that of a control group allowed a good night's sleep in the same lab with the same food availability.

"The only difference between the two groups was sleep," Spaeth said. "They lived in a suite, and in the suite there was a kitchen with a fridge and microwave."

The eating habits of the control group remained unchanged. The sleep-deprived group began eating additional calories between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m., and they tended to eat fattier foods during that time period. "That does kind of mimic the real world, when you're up late at night and you drift over to your fridge," Spaeth said.

There was one key difference between the lab and the real world. Since the study took place in a hospital, the suite's kitchen was stocked with hospital food. "I'm wondering if the effect would be stronger in the real world, where you have access to more calorically dense foods," Spaeth said.

The findings are published in the July issue of the journal Sleep.

Previous studies have shown a link between inadequate sleep and weight gain, Winter said, but this research is valuable because it provides precise observations in a laboratory setting.

"Anytime you're dealing with studies in the field, you're often relying on some sort of food diary or the recall of the patient," Winter said. "It's amazing how much food a person can eat and not remember. It's hard to keep track of people in terms of their eating and in terms of their sleep. When people are in a lab, they can perfectly control conditions and report them."

Blacks gained more weight than whites, and males gained more weight than females. Researchers currently are undertaking follow-up research involving detailed calorie counting to try to explain these differences, Spaeth said.

The study adds more weight to the growing mound of evidence suggesting that people who want to control their weight need to get seven to eight hours' sleep a night, Winter said.

People who can't get a good night's sleep -- such as people who are traveling or working late to meet a deadline -- need to pay extra attention to their food cravings, he added.

"God knows I'm aware of it," Winter said. "I'm usually traveling a lot, and I can feel myself craving food I don't really need and didn't know I wanted. I know when I'm going through an airport late at night and I see chocolate-covered pretzels, I know I'm not craving them because I'm hungry. I think if patients are more aware of those things, they're going to say, 'I'm not going to eat this because I'm not hungry, and it's not going to do me any good.'"

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What causes late-night snack cravings?

This article discusses a study on the circadian rhythm and how it influences certain cravings late at night.

A study published in the most recent version of the journal Obesity found that the body's internal clock, the circadian system, increases hunger and cravings for sweet, starchy and salty foods in the evenings. While the urge to consume more in the evening may have helped our ancestors store energy to survive longer in times of food scarcity, in the current environment of high-calorie food, those late night snacks may result in significant weight gain.

"Of course, there are many factors that affect weight gain, principally diet and exercise, but the time of eating also has an effect. We found with this study that the internal circadian system also likely plays a role in today's obesity epidemic because it intensifies hunger at night," said Steven Shea, Ph.D., director for the Center for Research on Occupational and Environmental Toxicology at Oregon Health & Science University and senior author on the study. "People who eat a lot in the evening, especially high-calorie foods and beverages, are more likely to be overweight or obese."

Indeed, eating a lot in the evening can be counterproductive since the human body handles nutrients differently depending on the time of day. For example, sugar tolerance is impaired in the evening. Additionally, consuming more calories in the evening predisposes people to more energy storage; we simply don't expend as much energy after an evening meal in comparison to morning meals.

Furthermore, artificial light enables people to stay up later than they probably should and often people don't get enough sleep. "If you stay up later, during a time when you're hungrier for high-calorie foods, you're more likely to eat during that time," Shea said. "You then store energy and get less sleep, both of which contribute to weight gain."

"If weight loss is a goal, it's probably better to eat your larger, higher-calorie meals earlier in the day," said Shea. "Knowing how your body operates will help you make better choices. Going to bed earlier, getting enough sleep and choosing lower-calorie foods rather than higher-calorie foods in the evening can all help with weight loss."

Conducted by Shea and two Boston-area researchers, Frank Scheer, Ph.D. and Christopher Morris, Ph.D. of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, the study examined the appetite and food preference of 12 healthy non-obese adults throughout a 13-day laboratory stay in very dim light in which all behaviors were scheduled, including timing of meals and sleep. Dr. Scheer, first author on the study, explained that "by the end of this long protocol, all of the participants' meals and activities were spaced evenly across the day and night, allowing examination of the true internal circadian effects on appetite, while controlling for other effects on appetite including the amount of food recently consumed."

The researchers found that the internal circadian system regulated hunger, with participants feeling the least hungry in the morning (8 a.m.) and most hungry in the evening (8 p.m.). Similar rhythms were found in appetite for types of food, such as sweet, starchy and salty, and the estimate of how much food participants could eat. The study concludes that the internal circadian system causes an evening peak in appetite that may promote larger, higher-calorie meals before the fasting period necessitated by sleep.

"Our study suggests that because of the internal circadian regulation of appetite, we have a natural tendency to skip breakfast in favor of larger meals in the evening. This pattern of food intake across the day is exactly what Sumo wrestlers do to gain weight." said Steven Shea. "So, it seems likely that the internal circadian system helps with efficient food storage. While this may have been valuable throughout evolution, nowadays it is likely to contribute to the national epidemic of obesity."

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Link Between Lack of Sleep and Junk Food Binging

Lack of sleep can result in a person eating greater quantities of high-calorie junk food resulting in weight gain over time

Lack of sleep can lead you to eat larger portions of high-calorie foods and increase your long-term risk of weight gain, according to a small new study.

Swedish researchers asked 16 normal-weight males to choose their ideal portions of high-calorie meals and snacks. They did this when they had a normal night of about eight hours sleep and again when they went a night without sleep.

The participants chose larger portion sizes after the night with no sleep. They did this both before and after a breakfast, which suggests that sleep deprivation increases food intake regardless of whether a person feels full, said study author Pleunie Hogenkamp, of Uppsala University.

"Bearing in mind that insufficient sleep is a growing problem in modern society, our results may explain why poor sleep habits can affect people's risk to gain weight in the long run," Hogenkamp said in a university news release.

The study was published online Feb. 18 in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology.

In a previous study, the same team of researchers found that young, normal-weight men who went a single night without sleep had increased activation of a brain region involved in the desire to eat.

Although the study found an association between lack of sleep and increased appetite for high-calorie foods, it did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.

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Study: Migraines not tied to greater weight gain

This article discusses a study showing no correlation between migraines and weight gain.

Women who have migraines may have no greater risk of becoming overweight than other women, despite what some research has suggested, according to an international study.

Some studies have found a connection between excess weight and a higher rate of migraines, but they have mainly studied people at one point in time, leaving unclear whether the weight or the migraines came first.

The current study, which appeared in the journal Cephalalgia, looked at data from the Women's Health Study, a long-term clinical trial that began following thousands of U.S. women in the mid-1990s.

"Our study should be reassuring that having migraine is not associated with future increase in relative body weight or obesity," researcher Tobias Kurth, of the French national research institute INSERM and the University of Bordeaux, said by email.

Overall, women who had migraines at the outset were no more likely than other women to become overweight or obese over the next 13 years. The average weight gain in both groups was almost identical, at around 4.5 kg (10 lb).

In theory, migraines could contribute to weight gain indirectly, such as frequent or severe headaches keeping a person from regular exercise.

The new findings are based on 19,162 female health professionals who were aged 45 or older, and of normal weight, when they entered the study. Almost 3,500 reported a history of migraines.

Over the next 13 years, 41 percent of those women became overweight, while about 4 percent became obese. But the odds of becoming obese were no greater among women with a history of migraine, and the risk of becoming overweight was only slightly higher -- 11 percent.

Severe migraines did not appear to carry a risk of extra weight either, Kurth's team found. Women who had migraines weekly to daily were at no greater risk of becoming overweight or obese than those whose migraines came a few times a year.

The study did not look at whether overweight or obese women are at increased risk of migraines or more severe ones.

"That is still possible. In fact, several studies have now shown that obesity is associated with increased migraine frequency," Kurth said.

There is also some evidence tying obesity to an elevated risk of developing migraines in the first place, but the prevalence of migraine has remained stable in recent decades, while obesity rates have soared, he added.

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