years of sleepless nights and weight gain

So, she noted, it's possible that night-shift work could add to any negative effects of sleep loss on muscle and fat tissue.

And changes in light and eating patterns may directly affect 'muscle protein balance,' she said. In addition, Szentirmai pointed out, they would be exposed to irregular lighting patterns. The point, Cedernaes explained, was to isolate the metabolic effects of sleep loss itself.īut in real life, someone working the night shift would be physically and mentally active, eating and going about life during the part of the day when humans normally sleep.

The volunteers spent two nights in the sleep lab: on one night, they could sleep for up to 8.5 hours on the other night, they were kept awake all night, but had to stay in bed. In addition, the experiment did not fully capture what it's like to work at night, for example. Eva Szentirmai, an associate professor at Washington State University, in Spokane, who studies sleep and metabolism, said, 'We don't know if you would observe similar tissue-specific changes during long-term, habitual sleep loss - which is common in our society.' With any lab study, however, it's not clear how well the artificial conditions reflect real life.ĭr. 'The finding that skeletal muscle proteins decrease, and proteins increase, in response to sleep loss is a novel mechanism by which sleep loss may promote obesity and weight gain,' said Josiane Broussard, an assistant professor at Colorado State University, in Fort Collins. 22 in the journal Science Advances.Ī sleep researcher who was not involved in the study called the findings 'extremely important.' But, he added, the study raises the question of what would happen if poor sleep becomes a regular pattern. 'This doesn't mean you should be alarmed by one night of sleep loss,' Cedernaes stressed. The investigators found that in 15 young, healthy men, one night of sleep loss triggered changes that favored fat storage and muscle breakdown. Jonathan Cedernaes, a research associate at Northwestern University, in Chicago.Ĭedernaes said studies have shown, for example, that sleep loss can change a range of markers in the blood - including blood sugar, hormone levels and various byproducts of metabolism.įor the new study, his team dug into the effects within fat and muscle tissue - looking at how gene activity and protein levels in those tissues changed after a sleepless night. 'We need mechanistic studies to understand the effects of sleep loss,' said lead researcher Dr. But that type of research leaves open the question of whether sleep loss itself is to blame.Ī growing number of lab studies, zeroing in on the effects of sleep deprivation, suggest the answer is 'yes.' The new research adds to the evidence. Many studies have linked poor sleep - whether from insomnia or working the night shift - to weight gain and health conditions like type 2 diabetes.

24, 2018 (HealthDay News) - One sleepless night might tip the body's metabolism toward storing fat while depleting muscle, new research suggests.

Years of sleepless nights and weight gain