If you need another reason to make sure you're getting a decent amount of shut-eye each night, a new study found insufficient sleep is linked with an increase in fat accumulation – especially unhealthy abdominal fat in the belly.
The randomized experiment involved 12 healthy, non-obese volunteers over a period of 21 days, finding that a lack of sufficient sleep in sleep-restricted participants was linked to a 9 percent increase in total abdominal fat area and an 11 percent increase in abdominal visceral fat.
This kind of visceral fat builds up deep inside the abdomen around internal organs, and has previouslyWhile fat is normally deposited under the skin by the body, not getting enough sleep seems to move it deeper toAbove: A breakdown of the consequences of insufficient sleep in the experiment.says cardiologist Virend Somers"Importantly, although during recovery sleep there was a decrease in calorie intake and weight, visceral fat continued to increase.
As well as the differences in visceral fat build-up, the researchers noticed that the participants who were getting less sleep were also consuming an average of more than 300 extra calories per day, taking in around 13 percent more protein and 17 percent more fat. Energy expenditure stayed mostly the same.
Throughout the study, the team monitored energy intake and expenditure, body weight, body composition, fat distribution , and circulating appetite biomarkers – and some of the apparent biological changes wouldn't have been noticed outside of a full scientific evaluation, the researchers say. "The visceral fat accumulation was only detected by CT scan and would otherwise have been missed, especially since the increase in weight was quite modest – only about a pound,""Measures of weight alone would be falsely reassuring in terms of the health consequences of inadequate sleep."of adults in the US don't get enough sleep on a regular basis, with factors such as shift work and late-night use of screens both contributing to the problem.
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