Too little sleep raises obesity risk in teenagers

They said getting too little sleep can result in chronic changes in the diet that can increase the risk of obesity, especially in girls. Prior studies have shown that too little sleep can lead to weight gain, but the new findings show where the extra calories come from. Increasing intake of fatty foods, which are typically high in calories, can increase the overall daily caloric intake, and if it happens routinely, it can lead to excess fat.

“The demonstration of chronically altered dietary patterns in adolescents with shorter sleep provides insight into why shorter sleep has been associated with obesity in prior experimental and observational studies,” said Dr Susan Redline.

Redline and colleagues studied 240 teenagers aged 16 to 19 taking part in an ongoing sleep study. They found that teenagers who slept less than eight hours consumed 2.2 per cent more calories from fats and 3 per cent fewer calories from carbohydrates than teens who slept eight hours or more.

Night browsing habits

Another study found that staying up late to browse the web or chat with friends could cost you your sanity later in life. Such sleep deprivation could explain why more young people are becoming mentally ill over the recent decades.

The study of 20,000 people aged between 17 and 24 years found that those who slept fewer than five hours a night were three times more likely than normal sleepers to become psychologically distressed in the next year. Each hour of sleep loss entailed 14 per cent increased risk of distress.