Yes, you read the headline right! Research indicates the less you sleep, the more weight you may gain. How is it that the numbers of hours you sleep can affect your weight?

“In our fast paced society, sleep is sacrificed in order to have more time to get things done.” shares Susan Mills-Gray, Nutrition & Health Specialist with MU Extension. “Unfortunately, this lack of sleep seems to be a strong factor in the challenge of managing a healthy weight”, Mills-Gray adds.

Several quality research studies have shown that sleep loss leads to higher levels of a hormone that triggers appetite, and lowers levels of a hormone that tells your body it’s full, thus leading to pounds that cling. More specifically, researchers believe that sleep loss impacts two particular hormones – ghrelin and leptin – which are thought to play a key role in the interaction between less sleep and increased weight. Ghrelin, was discovered about eight years ago and is primarily produced by the stomach, triggers appetite in humans: the more ghrelin you have, the more you want to eat. Leptin, a hormone produced by fat cells, decreases appetite and boosts metabolism: low leptin levels can lead to an increased appetite. Lack of sleep causes more ghrelin and less leptin to be produced; therefore increased appetite overall. The body wakes up hungrier – searching for food to boost energy, when adequate sleep should have provided that energy.

What’s the opportune amount of sleep in order to maintain a healthy weight? It seems to be eight hours. Let’s take look at some specific studies and their findings:

A 2006 study a the U. of Warwick Medical School studied 43,000 persons and found that people who get less than five hours of sleep per night actually double their risk of becoming obese.

Laval University of Quebec released this finding in 2006, that children who slept even an hour or two less than other children became more overweight.

Studies released in 2004 by both the University of Bristol and Stanford University School of Medicine found that those who slept fewer hours had higher levels of ghrelin and lower levels of leptin, and that these hormone changes occurred during sleep.
This link between lack of sleep and increased weight gain makes sense. After all, sleeping allows our bodies to refresh and heal, and cutting down on that process can only do our bodies more harm than good. So slow down, get a good night’s sleep and drop some weight while you sleep!

是的，你已經看到標題！研究顯示睡眠越少，體重增加的越多。然而睡眠時間的長短是如何影響體重的呢？

“在快節奏的現代社會，人們往往以犧牲睡眠來獲取更多的工作時間。”曼徹斯特大學的營養與健康專家蘇珊 米爾斯 格林 說道，“不幸的是，缺乏睡眠的正成為健康合理體重的一種巨大的挑戰因素。”

幾項關于睡眠質量的研究顯示睡眠的缺失可導致高荷爾蒙，而高荷爾蒙可誘發食欲；而低水平的荷爾蒙意味著它在告訴你的身體它已經飽了，進而阻止這種進食的欲望。更有意義的是，研究者發現睡眠的缺失可影響兩種特殊的荷爾蒙--饑餓荷爾蒙和瘦素，這兩種激素被認為是睡眠不足和體重增加之間關聯的重要因素。

饑餓荷爾蒙是于大約8年前被科學家發現的，主要由胃腺體分泌，其作用是激發人體食欲。人體內的饑餓荷爾蒙越多，進食就越多。而由脂肪細胞分泌的瘦素其作用是降低人體食欲，加快新陳代謝的速度：低水平的瘦素可以導致整個食欲的增強。而缺少睡眠可以導致人體分泌更多的饑餓荷爾蒙和更少的瘦素。因此會不斷增加人體食欲。缺乏睡眠的人們早晨醒來時會感到更饑餓--于是尋找食物以補充能量，而充足的睡眠應該已經為人體提供了能量。

保持健康合理體重所需的最佳睡眠時間應該是幾個小時呢？八個小時應該是最合適的，那么讓我們來看一看一些具體的研究結果以及其依據：

2006年瓦里克醫學院調查了43，000人，發現每晚睡眠時間少于五個小時的其得肥胖癥的幾率高出兩倍。

2006年魁北克拉瓦爾大學的研究顯示睡眠時間比其它學生少一個或兩個小時的超重的比較多。

2004年由布里斯托爾大學和斯坦福醫學院發表的研究報告稱其發現睡眠時間少的人會產生較高的饑餓荷爾蒙和較低的瘦素，而這些荷爾蒙一般在睡眠時產生。

睡眠不足和體重增加之間存在關聯是可以講得通的。總之，睡眠讓我們的身體一洗疲憊，恢復精力，可減少對我們的身體有害而無益的身體的運轉。所以，請慢慢躺下，睡個好覺，在睡眠中減肥吧。