Lack of Sleep Tied to Weight Gain in New Moms

Lack of Sleep Tied to Weight Gain in New Moms
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 28 (HealthDay News) -- If your new baby is keeping youawake at night, take note: A first-of-its-kind study suggests that sleepdeprivation after giving birth may limit a new mother's ability to shedthose pregnancy-related pounds.
It's not clear why there may be a link between sleep loss and lack ofweight loss. Still, the possibility of a connection is intriguing, saidstudy lead author Erica P. Gunderson, an investigator with the KaiserPermanente Division of Research in Oakland, Calif.
"Getting enough sleep may be as important as a healthy diet andphysical activity to returning to pre-pregnancy weight," Gundersonsaid.
According to the study authors, scientists have linked low amounts ofsleep to obesity, heart disease and diabetes. But there's been littleresearch into the connection between sleep and pregnancy and weight.
For the new study, the researchers looked at the weights and sleeppatterns of 940 women who enrolled in a study in Massachusetts duringearly pregnancy from 1999 to 2002.
A year after giving birth, 124 of the women retained at least 11 poundsof the weight they had gained during pregnancy. After the researchersadjusted the statistics to take into account such factors as familyincome, they found that women who slept five hours a day six months aftergiving birth were more than three times likelier to keep weight oncompared to women who slept seven hours.
Sleeping six, seven or eight hours a day didn't appear to raise awoman's risk of keeping on weight. "Basically, the women who were sleepingfewer hours did not lose as much weight as women who slept several morehours," Gunderson said.
The study findings, by researchers at Kaiser Permanente and HarvardMedical School/Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, were published in the Novemberissue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.
It might seem that people who sleep less would actually lose moreweight, because they'd spend more time burning calories while awake. Butthe study suggests the opposite, Gunderson said, perhaps because peoplebecome hungrier due to lack of sleep.
Also, she added, "If you're awake more, you may have more opportunitiesto eat."
Claire D. Brindis, a professor of pediatrics at the University ofCalifornia, San Francisco, said her own experience of giving birth to twochildren taught her about how stress, sleep and weight are allconnected.
"Having lived this, it's partly that you're more tired, and you feelyou need food to keep you energized," she said. "And when you're stressed,you feel like you can reward yourself with food. It creates a sense ofcomfort."
Gunderson said the next step is to understand what women who sleep lessafter pregnancy have in common. Doctors can then "target women who may notbe getting enough sleep and find ways to support them," she said.
More information
To learn more about sleep, visit the National SleepFoundation.