How to lose weight the easy way: go to sleep for longer
By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor

11 January 2005

Sleeping for an extra 20 minutes each night could offer a pain-free way to lose weight, scientists suggested yesterday. Insufficient sleep is linked with changes in hormone levels that may stimulate appetite. A series of studies in recent months have shown that the less people sleep, the heavier they tend to be.

The research, from doctors at the Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, US, compared people of normal weight - a body mass index of less than 25 - with those who were overweight or obese.

Among 1,000 volunteers, they found those of normal weight slept on average 16 minutes a day more than those who were overweight or obese.

The difference between the groups reached 112 minutes or 1.86 hours over a week. That was after allowing for a difference between the sexes - men slept 27 minutes less a day on average than women.

Concern is growing that the obesity epidemic, which has hit developed countries in the past 20 years could be driven in part by stressful lifestyles that lead to sleep deprivation.

The researchers write in Archives in Internal Medicine: "Americans experience insufficient sleep and corpulent bodies. Our findings suggest major extensions of sleep time may not be needed, as an extra 20 minutes of sleep a night seems to be associated with a lower BMI."

The findings are counter-intuitive because individuals are likely to burn more calories, and hence might be expected to be slimmer, the longer they are awake. But previous research has shown hormone levels vary according to how long people sleep.

It was reported last month that people who slept for only five hours a night had higher levels of the hormone ghrelin, which stimulates appetite.

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Losing Weight: A Diet That Works
Dr. David Marks
Jan 5, 2005, 16:13

A new study tried to find out which diet works the best.

It compares fout of the more popular: ATKINS, ORNISH, WEIGHT WATCHERS and ZONE.

Study participants who completed a year on the given diet weighed in.

ATKINS came in last with users of the low carb plan, losing just over four and a half pounds.

People on the calorie counting WEIGHT WATCHERS lost just over six and a half.

Those on ZONE lost just over seven pounds... and it was a similar result for patients on the low fat ORNISH diet.

The numbers don't surprise experts like dietician Cathy Nonas... who says the difference in weight lost from one plan to another wasn't that significant.

Most americans know how to gain weight and lose weight," says Nonas. "But they don't know how to maintain it. Which may be the hardest past of a diet: ACTUALLY STICKING WITH IT.

So when researchers looked at which plan was the easiest to stay with, the ranking list changed.

People who stuck with ORNISH lost the most weight. But only half of those who tried it were able to stay on it.

The ATKINS diet had a similar result.

Study participants seemed to have an easier time with WEIGHT WATCHERS and ZONE. Sixty-five percent were still on the diets after a year..

So in the end, researchers weren;t able to determine whict diet works the best.

What they did find is poeple can lose weight on any of these diets.

"As long as you find one that is safe for you and that you can adhere to by all means go after it," says Nonas.

But before you start one of these diets, talk to your doctor to make sure it's the right one for you.

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