Trying to lose weight? Try sleeping more…

Are you trying to lose weight? Then maybe you should start hitting your snooze button a bit more. Why? Well according to new research, a lack of sleep can make you put on weight and can lead to other serious health complications.

The Irish Independent reports that researchers at Harvard University have said that not getting enough sleep could put you on the fast track to weight gain, obesity and other health issues such as diabetes. Not good news if you’re trying to look after yourself, right?

The study, which is the first to link a lack of sleep to illness in the physical body, revealed that an erratic sleep pattern or failing to get your recommended 8 hours of slumber every night, could have a harsh impact on your physical body.

Researchers at Harvard rounded up 21 men and women and observed them in a sleep laboratory. A number of the men and women were only allowed 5.6 hours of sleep over the course of three weeks. Sounds like an absolute barrel of laughs, doesn’t it?

Anyway, when the three weeks were up, researchers found that there had been a significant slowdown in their metabolism and a reduction in how much insulin their bodies produced.

The study, which was published in the Science Translational Medicine journal, stated that sleeping, eating and being active at times that are at odds with your body’s internal clock can dramatically impact your physical body. Sleep-deprivation automatically increases your risk of developing diabetes, putting on weight and facing other detrimental health conditions.

“We disrupted not just the timing of sleep but the timing of meals, so it seems that eating meals at an unusual time may also play a role,” said Orfeu Buxton, the lead author of the study.

If you’re currently suffering from a disrupted sleep pattern there is some good news though.

The study also showed that the effects of not getting enough sleep could be completely reversed after nine days of getting enough “recovery” sleep.

After nine days the body’s internal clock can readjust itself, meaning that the negative effects of a previous lack of sleep can be cancelled.

So if you haven’t been getting enough sleep lately, make sure you try and hit the hay so you get your 8 hours. You’ll have more energy, be more alert and keep your metabolism ticking over nicely if you’re trying to lose weight.