031025 Body Needs Plenty of Rest to Fight Fat

For decades, I thought weight gain was all about diet and exercise. You know, all doughnuts and no sweat make Jack a chunky chicken.

Well, that's part of the story, but maybe not the whole deal. People who are gaining weight and have no idea why should take a look at their sleep habits.

According to a study reported in Jewish World Review, if you don't get enough sleep at night, it doesn't matter how carefully you eat or how much you exercise. When the body is exhausted, no diet will work.

Why? Because lack of sleep jangles the hormones that control appetite and weight reduction.

According to the report, if you don't get enough sleep:

- You'll eat more during the day in an attempt to stay alert.

- Hormones that control appetite and weight reduction won't function properly.

- Resistance to insulin increases, interfering with the ability to digest and process carbohydrates. Translation: we get fat.

Once again, the Pettit School of Medicine, Folklore and Twisted Logic has failed me. I thought that the longer I stayed awake, the more active my metabolism, so therefore I burned more calories by trudging on into the night.

Granted, Conan O'Brien has been a stiff price to pay for forced insomnia.

So how much sleep do we need? The often-touted eight hours is still the standard.

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E-mail: sflanagan@sprintmail.com