United States – According to a new study, the men and women who are overweight can significantly benefit from sound sleep.
The Impact
Overweight individuals who night owls are prone to develop metabolic syndrome, which is a blend of conditions that make an individual susceptible to heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and other ailments, as reported by HealthDay.
“Our research shows that disruptions in the body’s internal biological clock could contribute to negative health consequences for people who may already be vulnerable due to weight,” commented Brooke Shafer, the lead investigator of the work, a postdoctoral researcher at the Sleep, Chronobiology and Health Laboratory, Oregon Health & Science University.
Furthermore, the research also indicates that poor sleep comes with varied health risks for male and female participants.
Gender-Specific Health Risks
In the study, 30 participants with a BMI above 25 were selected, making them fall under the overweight or obese category.
Saliva samples were s collected in the study to determine each participant’s chronotype, the exact time in the evening when their body begins to produce the sleep regulation hormone melatonin.
The participants then recorded their sleep patterns in the subsequent seven days.
The sleep diaries helped the researchers identify participants with a narrow or wide interval between melatonin onset and sleep. A narrow window, therefore, refers to the time of the night when an individual falls asleep immediately after the onset of melatonin, while a wide window refers to just the opposite.
A narrow window was indicative of the person waking up later than what the internal body clock requires, according to the researchers.
Findings on Sleep Patterns and Health
From the results, men who more frequently fell asleep close to the melatonin onset exhibited more belly fat, increased fatty triglycerides in the blood, and total metabolic syndrome risk than men who slept longer and better.
Overall body weight and body fat ranged over two times the standard for female participants who had a short sleep window, while their blood glucose and heart rate were also higher.
The Need for Personalized Sleep Interventions
“It was somewhat surprising to see these differences present themselves in a sex-dependent manner,” said senior researcher Andrew McHill, an assistant professor at OHSU. “It’s not one size fits all, as we sometimes think in academic medicine.”
Promoting Good Sleep Habits
“This study builds support for the importance of good sleep habits,” Shafer said in an OHSU news release. “Sleep practices, like going to bed when you’re tired or setting aside your screen at night, can help to promote good overall health.”
The next step for scientists will be to study the impact of even more extreme shift variations, such as when some employees are required to work at night, as reported by HealthDay.
“We want to figure out possible interventions that keep this vital core group of the workforce healthy,” Shafer said.