There is an article in the Wall Street Journal about people who need less than six hours of sleep per night - a.k.a short sleepers. Short sleepers are less common than most people think. In fact, the article quotes a famous sleep psychiatrist, Dan Buysse, who says that there only 5-6 true short sleepers for every 100 people that make such claims. People who tolerate six hours or less of sleep per night for the work week are not what we call short sleepers. If you can sleep longer on the weekend, than you are not a short sleeper. You are sleep-depriving yourself during the work week and catching up on lost sleep on the weekends. Short sleepers sleep < 6 hours seven days a week.
We don't know why some people are short sleepers. It can start in childhood and can run in families. There is no way a person can teach themselves to be a short sleeper either.
Short sleepers tend to be more energetic, outgoing, optimistic, and ambitious. Their metabolism tends to be higher than regular sleepers. The article in the WSJ thought this was confusing, since sleep deprivation is linked to obesity. However, it could be argued that true short sleepers are not sleep-deprived. Finally, short sleepers tend to have higher tolerance for physical pain and psychological setbacks.
Currently, researchers are attempting to find out the genetics behind short sleepers. This could have applicability in our fast-paced modern lifestyle. In the mean time, get some sleep...enough sleep.
Showing posts with label sleep length. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sleep length. Show all posts
Monday, May 2, 2011
Monday, September 27, 2010
Sleep Duration and Adolescents' Fat and Carb Intake
Another article in the September edition of the Journal Sleep is about how short sleep durations can change the dietary habits of adolescents. The authors begin by pointing out the lack of data quantifying sleep duration and caloric intake. There is an association between sleep loss and obesity, especially in adults. The question is if it's due to increased caloric intake, decreased physical activity, or the same diet, but just altered metabolism.
The researchers measured sleep times in older adolescents with a watch-like device called actigraphy, which can measure sleep at home. They did this during the weekdays only, as weekend sleep times were too variable. They asked the adolescents to recall what food they had eaten, the portions, the percent of fat and carbohydrate, and snacking. They defined short sleepers as getting less than 8 hours of sleep, which is one hour less than the recommended 9 hours per night for adolescents.
The results showed that the average sleep time was 7.55 +/- 1.14 hours and 34% slept at least 8 hours per night. The median caloric intake was 1917 calories, 51% carbs, and 35% fat. If an adolescent slept <8 hours per night, they tended to be obese rather than non-obese. Also, if the adolescent slept <8 hours per night, they had a 2.7% increase in fat consumption and a 3.7% decrease in carbohydrate consumption than those that slept >8 hours.
Those that slept <8 hours / night had a 2.1 fold increase in the odds of eating a high-calorie snack. For each 1 hour increase in sleep duration, the odds of a high-calorie snack decreased by 21%. This was most prominent in girls.
The authors acknowledge the small differences in fat and carb intake, but point out that small increases tend to accumulate and could increase obesity rate.
As I've said in another post, childhood obesity is not caused by short sleep duration. In my opinion, people who sleep less and are obese have extra weight because they have more wake time to eat. Obestity is caused by increased consumption of high-calorie foods rich in salt, sugar, and fat. The food tastes good, so kids eat it, and eat lots of it. They also don't exercise much, as our society is so sendentary. And thinking that if you get an extra hour of sleep, you can magically shed extra weight without serious dietary change is unrealistic.
The researchers measured sleep times in older adolescents with a watch-like device called actigraphy, which can measure sleep at home. They did this during the weekdays only, as weekend sleep times were too variable. They asked the adolescents to recall what food they had eaten, the portions, the percent of fat and carbohydrate, and snacking. They defined short sleepers as getting less than 8 hours of sleep, which is one hour less than the recommended 9 hours per night for adolescents.
The results showed that the average sleep time was 7.55 +/- 1.14 hours and 34% slept at least 8 hours per night. The median caloric intake was 1917 calories, 51% carbs, and 35% fat. If an adolescent slept <8 hours per night, they tended to be obese rather than non-obese. Also, if the adolescent slept <8 hours per night, they had a 2.7% increase in fat consumption and a 3.7% decrease in carbohydrate consumption than those that slept >8 hours.
Those that slept <8 hours / night had a 2.1 fold increase in the odds of eating a high-calorie snack. For each 1 hour increase in sleep duration, the odds of a high-calorie snack decreased by 21%. This was most prominent in girls.
The authors acknowledge the small differences in fat and carb intake, but point out that small increases tend to accumulate and could increase obesity rate.
As I've said in another post, childhood obesity is not caused by short sleep duration. In my opinion, people who sleep less and are obese have extra weight because they have more wake time to eat. Obestity is caused by increased consumption of high-calorie foods rich in salt, sugar, and fat. The food tastes good, so kids eat it, and eat lots of it. They also don't exercise much, as our society is so sendentary. And thinking that if you get an extra hour of sleep, you can magically shed extra weight without serious dietary change is unrealistic.
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