Uneven Sleep Patterns Linked to Weight Gain in Teens
Uneven sleep patterns linked to weight gain in teens. Teenagers should be getting eight to nine hours of sleep, and it’s well-known that they get much less than that.
Sleep deprivation has been connected to weight gain in other studies before, but new research shows that what leads to weight gain is not necessarily the amount of sleep but the consistency of that sleep night after night.
According to researchers at Penn State University Medical Center, there is a strong correlation between varying sleep patterns and the number of calories teens consume. Every hour of sleep difference on a daily basis caused teens to consume 210 additional calories, and most of the calories came from fat and carbohydrates. Those with uneven sleep patterns are also more likely to snack.
In the study group, all the teenagers got seven hours of sleep. The study also looked at what is called, social jet lag, caused by teens missing sleep because they were trying to catch up with social or work demands. Researchers guess that whenever teens got less sleep, they were more sedentary the next day and tended to eat more. They also believe that those with irregular sleep habits also stayed up late during weekends and snacked more.
The results were presented at the American Heart Association EPI/Lifestyle 2015 meeting.
Category: News
