Nutrition Vitamin: Harmones and weight gain...what's the connection?

Dear Lifestyler

If an improved diet and extra trips to the gym failto help shed thoseexcess pounds, a growing body of research is shininglight on a new wayto get to a new you: Do nothing.

Do nothing, that is, but sleep.

Asmillions of Americans move through life weary andsleep-deprived,scientists are uncovering more and more evidence thatinsufficientslumber may cause hormonal shifts that boost both hungerand appetite -particularly for fat-laden carb catastrophes likejelly-filled donutsand super-sized fries.

"Weall need to be aware there is a relationship between sleepand obesity,"says J. Catesby Ware, chief of the division of sleepmedicine at EasternVirginia Medical School, and director of the SleepDisorder Center atSentara Norfolk General Hospital in Norfolk, Va.

Wareand his colleagues found signs of this link in a recentlycompletedstudy of more than 1,000 men and women that indicated thosewho reportedsleeping less also weighed more.

Heis now in the midst of new research focusing on anothergroup of 1,000individuals that is quantifying specific daily sleephabits, withpreliminary data reinforcing his previous observation -less sleepequals a bigger belly.

"Thereare a number of research studies that all support thethesis that toolittle sleep leads to weight gain," Ware said. "Howthat happens isstill somewhat unclear, but there are hormonalsecretions that areaffected with sleep loss that apparently affectappetite and eating."

Other researchers are working to unravel the mechanism behind the mystery.

EveVan Cauter, a professor of medicine at the University ofChicago,recently found that when 12 healthy men in their 20s wereinstructed tosleep just four hours a night for two nights straight,they reported anincrease in feelings of hunger by 24 percent.

What'smore, Cauter and her colleagues noted that levels of thehormone leptin,which delivers feelings of satiation to the brain,decreased by 18percent among the men.

Conversely,levels of the hormone ghrelin, which sparks hunger,shot up 28 percent -prompting cravings for candy, cookies and cake.

Dr.Phyllis Zee, a professor of neurology at the NorthwesternUniversityFeinberg School of Medicine, said that while researcherscontinue to bestymied by the exact nature of the sleep-weightconnection, therelationship is undeniable.

"Thiskind of short-term sleep deprivation study supports therelationship wesee in the larger population-based studies, which showsthat if yourestrict sleep, the hormonal and metabolic profiles beginto resemblethose of people who are pre-diabetic, while bringing aboutautonomicchanges that can be related to the development ofcardiovasculardisease," added Zee, director of the Sleep DisordersCenter atNorthwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

Accordingto several polls by the National Sleep Foundation,many Americans of allages barely meet or fail to meet the minimaldaily sleep requirementsmost physicians and researchers recommend.

Inits most recent 2005 survey, the NSF found that more than 70percent ofadults over the age of 18 get less than eight hours of sleepa night onweekdays - and 40 percent get less than seven hours.

A2003 poll found that, on average, American adults between theages of 18and 54 sleep just 6.7 hours a night during the week, andseven hours anight on weekends.

Amongolder adults - those between 55 and 84 - 13 percent sleepless than sixhours a night during the week, while 11 percent have asimilar sleeppattern on weekends.

Againstsuch a national backdrop of sleep deprivation,researchers concur thatthe battle of the bulge may ultimately best bewaged beneath the sheets.

"Betweenseven and eight hours seems to be a fairly magicalnumber for sleepduration," said Zee. "People who report, on average,getting betweenseven and eight hours of sleep are the ones who appearto have thelowest risk" of weight gain.

Wareagreed: "By sleeping more, you gain on all fronts. If youare obese andare trying to lose weight, it's almost a no-brainer."

Thanks Alan Mozes for your valuable contribution, you're much appreciated...

technorati tags:weight, fatloss, gain, hormones, sleep, disorder, appetite