With the new finding, this was based on a review of the sleeping habits of 522. The key causative link to obesity was insufficient sleep during the week. Here “insufficient” was defined as the need to make up lost sleep at the weekend. The study was conducted at the University of Bristol, U.K., together with researchers based at the Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar.
The findings suggest that the best way to avoid obesity and diabetes is to sleep more. The study also highlighted the dangers of shift work and its association with such ill-health effects. Indeed, any activities that interfere with the natural body clock and circadian rhythms was seen to be a concern. Startling, as little as 30 minutes sleep deprivation carried an elevated risk of obesity.
With the shift-work issue, Digital Journal reported in 2014 that one study had found that 30 percent of shift workers are obese, compared with 24 percent in the normal population.
The risks associated with obesity are cardiovascular disease (dyslipidemia, hypertension), endocrine dysfunction (type 2 diabetes, glucose intolerance, and insulin resistance) and pulmonary complications (obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, asthma, and exercise intolerance).
Commenting on the outcomes, Dr Denise Robertson, a senior lecturer from the University of Surrey, told the BBC: “This work is interesting and consistent with prospective data found in healthy individuals without type 2 diabetes. However, before this association between sleep length, obesity and metabolic status can be used in terms of public health we need the next tier of evidence.”
She added: “To date there have been no randomised controlled trials where sleep debt is addressed and a metabolic benefit is observed. However, the potential for such interventions to impact on health is great.”
The results were reported to the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society. The results were regarded to be of sufficient enough interest for experts to call for a larger study to see if the results can be verified. At present, the results have not been reported to a science journal.
