Does Sleep Loss May Result In Increased Weight?

A new research study at Uppsala University has discovered that sleep loss on a single night can impact on the gene tissues and affects metabolism in human beings. The study further explains how a sleepless night adversely impacts our body composition and hamper metabolism in the body. 

Research studies on sleep loss have further revealed that it also increases the risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes in people with sleep disorders and work on different shifts. There is a linkage between sleep loss and weight gain, which resultantly accumulate more fat in the body and a reduction in muscle mass. Consequently, results in a number of serious health issues.

Researchers believe that skeletal muscle and adipose tissues are severely affected by the sleep disorders. However, it is still unclear whether sleep loss makes changes at the tissue level, which can result in weight gain. 

In this study, researchers have conducted studies on fifteen healthy individuals who were invited to participate in lab test where they were given standardized meals and keep slept overnight in one session and in the other session the participants were kept awake during eight hours of the session. After every session, small tissue samples from fat and skeletal muscles were taken from the participants. The analysis of two tissues showed disorders in metabolism were the same as found in conditions such as obesity and diabetes. Researchers have collected sugar molecules as well as various fatty amino acids.

Then the samples were used for molecular analysis, which revealed that sleep disorders resulted in a change of DNA methylation, which often regulates gene expression. DNA methylation alternatively called as epigenetic modification and involved in regulating of genes and their reaction in the body. Studies have revealed that sleep disorders can result in a change in epigenetic changes. Thus the sleep disorders bring changes in the DNA and molecules which increases the capacity to store more fat in the body for the people who work overnight. The study was restricted to one-night sleep disorder and it doesn’t say anything about multiple night sleep disorders which can certainly have an adverse effect on the human health and can result in weight gaining capacity of human beings.