You win, daylight saving time. That was the general sentiment around the office today as we all bemoaned our loss of sweet, sweet sleep. How much snooze time did we miss out on?
About 40 minutes by Monday morning, which is enough to increase workplace injuries, car accidents, and mindless Facebook scrolling, research shows.
Yes, it’s kind of annoying to have our clocks thrown off, but DST serves as an important reminder of just how critical it is to get adequate shut-eye.
Another serious side effect of sleep deprivation: Weight gain. Yep, simply missing out on the recommended 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night is enough to halt your healthy diet and add extra flab. So with the help from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, we’ve rounded up five researched-backed ways you — and your waistline — can benefit from hitting the sack on the regular:
1. You’ll be less hungry. A study published in the journal PLoS Medicine found that short sleep duration disrupts your body’s balance of appetite-regulating hormones leptin and ghrelin (leptin tells your brain you’re full and ghrelin hikes up your hunger). What’s more, sleep-deprived participants also had higher BMIs.
2. You’ll prevent junk-food binges. You need fuel in order to stay awake and active, so skipping Zs can lead you to eat more than you normally would in an effort to boost your energy levels. In fact, a University of Colorado study linked inadequate sleep to a 5-percent increase in calorie intake and, not surprisingly, weight gain. What’s more, a 2013 study found that sleep deprivation impairs the brain regions that are used for food selection, causing greater cravings for high-calorie, junky fare.
3. You’ll decrease your risk of obesity. A 2013 study in the American Journal of Epidemiology found that adults who regularly got only five or six hours of sleep each night had a 40-percent higher risk of developing obesity than those who logged 7–8 hours of shut-eye.
4. You’ll increase your chances of weight-loss success. A 2012 study in the journal Obesity discovered that overweight and obese adults who were attempting to lose weight were more likely to drop the pounds if they got good quality sleep and slept for more than 7 hours per night.
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