RESEARCH THE
FINISHING TOUCH
Spas off ering weight-loss
programmes should consider include advice on sleep health
KATIE BARNES » MANAGING EDITOR » SPA BUSINESS
DREAM DIET People can lose fat and stave on hunger pangs by getting a good night’s sleep, a new study shows
portion of people could still benefi t from specialist sleep programmes off ered in spas. New research also suggests that sleep health could be used in weight-loss packages. T e study by the University of Chicago*
S
in the US found that adequate sleep doesn’t only help those on a diet to increase their fat loss, but can also help to suppress feelings of hunger. It was based on 10 slightly over- weight, non-smoking people aged 35 to 49. T eir BMI ranged from 25, which is consid- ered to be just overweight, up to 32, which is considered to be obese.
leep health is no new phenom- enon and with 40 per cent of adults lying awake at night – according to the 2010 America in Stress survey – a large pro-
Each person was put on a diet, where calo-
ries were restricted to 90 per cent of what they each required to maintain their weight without exercise. Participants were then observed over two 14-day periods in a laboratory. For the fi rst fortnight, 8.5 hours was allocated to sleep and in the second two weeks only 5.5 hours was set aside for sleep. In the day they carried on with their typical home/work life routine.
THE RESULTS
In the fi rst fortnight, participants slept for an average of seven hours and 25 minutes. In the short-sleep programme, participants got around fi ve hours 14 minutes’ sleep – more than two hours fewer than in the fi rst phase. The dieters in the study lost the same amount of weight – 6.6lbs on average – dur-
LIGHT AT NIGHT LINKED TO DEPRESSION
In another study related to sleep, it has been found for the fi rst time that dim light at night is enough to cause physical change in the brain of hamsters and may even be associated with depression. Researchers from Ohio State Uni-
versity, US, found that female hamsters exposed to dim light every night for eight weeks showed signifi cant changes
in the hippocampus – the part of the brain linked to memory and emotion. “Even dim light at night is suffi cient
to provoke depressive-like behaviours,” says study co-author Tracy Bedrosian. T e results are signifi cant because the
night-time light used was not bright. It was fi ve lux – the equivalent of having a TV on in a darkened room.
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ing each two-week session. So there was no diff erence in the amount of weight lost. However, those who got more sleep did lose
more fat: they lost 3.1lbs of actual fat and 3.3lbs of fat-free body mass (such as protein). In comparison, those who had less sleep only lost 1.3lbs of fat but 5.3lbs of fat-free body mass. T ose who got less sleep also felt hungrier,
it was found. When the amount of sleep was reduced, the dieters produced more ghrelin
– a hormone that stimulates hunger and food intake and that reduces energy expenditure. Dr Plamen Penev, the study director and
assistant professor of medicine at the Univer- sity of Chicago, says: “Cutting back on sleep, a behaviour that is ubiquitous in modern soci- ety, appears to compromise eff orts to lose fat through dieting. In our study, it reduced fat loss by 55 per cent.” He adds: “For the fi rst time, we have evi-
dence that the amount of sleep makes a big diff erence to the results of dietary interven- tions. People should not ignore the way they sleep when going on a diet. Obtaining ade- quate sleep may enhance the benefi cial eff ects of a diet. Not getting enough sleep could defeat the desired eff ects.” It was acknowledged that the study was
limited due to its small sample size. ● *Penev, Plamen D et al. Insuffi cient Sleep
Undermines Dietary Eff orts to Reduce Adiposity. Annals of Internal Medicine (October 2010)
SPA BUSINESS 2 2011 ©Cybertrek 2011
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