Penn study links restricted sleep with weight gain

A recent Penn study may have an important take home message for students who don’t get enough sleep.

The study, conducted by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine, found that restricting sleep led to weight gains because of increased late night calorie consumption.

In the study, 225 healthy adults between the ages of 22 and 50 were randomly assigned to either a sleep restriction or a control condition and spent as many as 18 successive days in the lab.

While subjects in the control condition slept 10 hours a night — from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m., those in the sleep restricted condition slept from 4 a.m. to 8 a.m. for five consecutive nights. Those restricted to four hours of sleep consumed more calories, and the proportion of calories from fat was higher during nighttime hours.

In fact, sleep deprived subjects gained more weight — about 2.13 pounds — than control subjects, who gained 0.25 pounds. Among the former, African Americans gained more weight than Caucasians, and males gained more weight than females.

More: How much weight you put on sleep

In terms of caloric intake, those who only slept for four hours consumed additional calories during daytime hours and an average of 552.9 additional calories — with a higher-than-normal percentage of calories from fat — between the 10:00 p.m. and the 4 a.m. bedtime.

Having read the outcome of the study, rising Engineering junior Rameen Vafa has vowed to change his sleeping habits.

“This summer I have started going to bed three or four hours after I normally would and I have noticed that I have gained a little weight,” Vafa said.

“I thought this was an odd anomaly, but after hearing about this study, I have realized that I do in fact eat two extra meals per day: one during the extra hours I stay awake, and another during the day due to a lack of energy as a result of lack of sleep,” he added.

Subjects in the study were allowed to watch television, read, play video or board games, or partake in other sedentary activities, and could choose the food they ate during their scheduled meal times. They were allowed to snack at their leisure.

This freedom of choice is much like the newfound freedom granted to college students and freshmen specifically, who often neglect sleep to study or partake in social activities.

“With college students, I think that when they are restricting their sleep, it’s usually because they’re staying up late rather than getting up really early,” said lead author of the study, Andrea Spaeth, a graduate student in psychology who works in the Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory at Penn.

“I know it’s easier said than done, but I think that one way that college students could help prevent the freshman 15 might be to really put effort into going to bed at a decent hour — at least during the week nights — to try to limit that late night snacking,” she added.

Related: Freshman 15 weight gain a myth, study says

Rising College junior Jess Stone said that she normally tries to make healthy choices but can attest to this habit.

“When I stay up really late studying, I tend to snack throughout the night,” she said. “When I am looking for something to snack on at 4 a.m., I generally don’t go for a salad, but rather chips or something sweet,” she said.

While obesity — which can arise from inadequate sleep — is often looked down upon in our society, skipping out on sleep is often equated with a good work ethic.

“Sometimes we see Penn students who will boast a little bit about their sleep deprivation. They almost wear it like a badge of honor. I’d love to see that culture change a little bit for the healthier,” said Director of Campus Health Initiatives Sharon McMullen.

McMullen explained that neglecting sleep not only impacts caloric intake, but academic performance as well. “What we try to get across — at least to students — is that sleep isn’t optional, it really is a requirement,” she said. “The more that people have unhealthy sleep patterns, the less likely they are to be successful in what they’re doing.”

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