Sleep In to Stay Fit?

Sleep in to stay fit? I've got several choices tonight - retire to bed early, scout around for gym gear and head of to the gym, go for a run or cycle a few miles round the neighbourhood?

Let me see. After a long busy and stressful day at work, I admit the option to retire to bed early has the greatest appeal.

I was surprised to find out that there is an academic publication called the - Sleep. The research published in this journal showed that more, rather than less sleep can help you lose weight. So, if one of your goals for getting or staying fit is to lose weight, getting more sleep is worth exploring.

I admit this novel way to lose weight has some appeal for me. Sleep comes naturally at the end of the day, doesn't take any effort and costs nothing. And it's something we all have to do.

The study, based on 1,088 pairs of identical and non identical twins found that heritability of body mass index (BMI) - a measurement relating weight and height - was twice as high for short as for long sleepers. For twins sleeping less than seven hours a night, genetic factors accounted for 70% of differences in BMI. In the case of twins averaging more than nine hours of sleep, only 32% of weight variations could be attributed to genes.

One of the conclusions suggested by the research, according to Dr Nathaniel Watson from the University of Washington, was that shorter sleep provides a more permissive environment for the expression of obesity related genes.

I can’t say I was entirely convinced by the research so did a little more digging and found that University of Michigan researcher, Michael Sivak made some calculations to show that replacing one hour of inactive wakefulness—such as watching television—with sleep can result in a 6 percent reduction in caloric intake.

How does it work? A person who sleeps seven hours a night and consumes 2,500 calories during the remaining 17 hours of the day can cut 147 calories by simply sleeping an extra hour instead of watching TV.

Admittedly, you’re not going to end up with huge drop in weight as Sivak calculated you’re likely to lose 14 pounds over a year.

But, if your goals are realistic and achievable for you, try to sleep off the weight. Weighing a stone (6 .3 Kilos) less at the end of the year is better than weighing a stone more.