Do you ever think that if you could only get a little more sleep, you'd feel a whole lot better—and thinner? You may be on to something!
Research conducted by Columbia University Medical Center epidemiologist James Gangwisch, Ph.D., shows that people who sleep for five or fewer hours a night have a 60 percent higher risk of obesity than those who sleep for seven hours. The people who slept less also had a greater risk of developing diabetes and hypertension.
Why could this be? Turns out sleep helps to regulate ghrelin, a hormone that signals hunger, as well as leptin, a hormone that tells us when we're full. Not enough sleep gives us too much ghrelin and not enough leptin—potentially causing us to give in to our cravings and eat more. Preventing weight gain may be the best reason of all to try to get more shut-eye!
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