Get more sleep, lose weight
2007-11-20 10:25
Washington - Researchers presented a
conundrum to new mothers on Monday, saying that women who want
to lose the extra weight gained in pregnancy should try to get
more sleep.
They found that mothers who slept five hours or less a day
when their babies were six months old were three times more
likely than more rested mothers to have kept on the extra
weight at one year.
"We've known for some time that sleep deprivation is
associated with weight gain and obesity in the general
population, but this study shows that getting enough sleep -
even just two hours more - may be as important as a healthy
diet and exercise for new mothers to return to their
pre-pregnancy weight," said Erica Gunderson of Kaiser
Permanente, which runs hospitals and clinics in California.
Gunderson and colleagues studied 940 women taking part in a
study of prenatal and postnatal health at Harvard Medical
School in Boston.
The women who slept five hours or less a night when their
babies were six months old were more likely to have kept on five kilos of weight one year after giving birth, they
found.
Women who slept seven hours a night or more lost more
weight, they reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
The researchers acknowledged this may pose a dilemma to new
mothers, given that infants sleep so fitfully.
"With the results of this study, new mothers must be
wondering, 'How can I get more sleep for both me and my baby?'
Our team is working on new studies to answer this important
question," said Dr Matthew Gillman of Harvard Medical School
and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care.