More than 9 hours sleep a night could suppress obesity genes
A diet made up of plenty of sleep may be the secret to losing weight, research suggests.
Sleeping more than nine hours a night appears to supress genetic factors that lead to weight gain, a study has found.
In contrast, getting too little sleep seems to have the opposite effect.
Sleeping for fewer than seven hours a night appears to 'encourage' the genes that cause weight gain.
They made the discovery in a study of more than 1,000 pairs of twins, both identical and non-identical.
Twin studies help researchers unravel genetic and environmental influences. Only identical twins share the same genes, and are therefore subject to the same genetic effects, so differences between them are likely to be due to environmental factors.
Dr Nathaniel Watson, from the University of Washington, who led the US study, explains: "The results suggest that shorter sleep provides a mroe permissive environment for the expression of obesity related genes.
"Or it may be that extended sleep is protective by suppressing expression of obesity genes."
For those who slept for fewer than seven hours a night, 70 per cent of differences in weight were down to genes, the study showed.
But for those who averaged more than nine hours of sleep, only 32 per cent of the variations were genetic.
The findings have been published in the journal Sleep. In their paper, the scientists from the University of Washington suggested that a lack of sleep in hectic modern lifestyles may contribute to obesity.
They said the average amount of sleep we get each night has fallen by an hour and a half over the past century.
They wrote: ‘Modern society with its ubiquitous technology often can cause misalignment between sleep need and sleep actualisation. Evidence is mounting that chronically reduced sleep times are associated with obesity.’
Lack of sleep may influence weight by affecting hormones and metabolism, they said.
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