Be alert to nightmare that can pile on pounds

Published on Friday 30 May 2008 10:33

Sleep. Some people can't get enough of it – most of us don't. Many people get by with what experts now term 'junk sleep', which it is claimed can lead to you actually putting on weight.

THE alarm goes off, signalling the start of a bright new day. But instead of leaping from your bed in a burst of enthusiasm, you bury your head in the pillow, unable to believe that it's already time to get up.

You're exhausted and no wonder, because you've spent the night twisting and turning, dreaming about the strains of the previous day.

Once you've stumbled to work, if you've any chance of waking up, there will be nothing else for it but to reach for a strong, sugar-laden coffee and maybe a butter-slathered bacon roll.

Perhaps it should be no surprise, then, that the legion of people who suffer from lack of sleep are also the ones who are losing the battle of the bulge.

But imagine if you could turn things around and shed a few pounds, not by slogging it out on a treadmill but by simply getting a good night's sleep.

While it sounds like a fiction invented by those who like a lie-in that bit too much, Dr Chris Idzikowski of the Edinburgh Sleep Centre reckons it could be one way of tackling the obesity epidemic.

"Sleep problems like apnoea have a great deal of adverse effects, including on our metabolism and appetite control hormones," he says.

Indeed, the science is there to prove it with boffins at Bristol University finding that less sleep leads to higher levels of a hormone that increases hunger.

Their study of 1000 volunteers found that people who habitually slept for five hours had 15 per cent more ghrelin – a hormone that increases feelings of hunger – than those who slept for eight hours.

So could it really be that easy? Sadly not. Dr Idzikowski points out that many of us are suffering from "junk sleep" – an umbrella term he uses to describe poor quality sleep. On average, he says, people experiencing junk sleep wake up or experience a momentary lighter sleep around 90 times every hour.

Those who suffer from sleep apnoea – a breathing problem that often leads to snoring – can find themselves being completely awakened or partially roused from sleep more than 300 times a night.

It's a widespread problem and one that was the focus of a survey released this week to highlight the sleep deprivation caused by muscle cramps.

Commissioned by those behind the cramp treatment Crampex, the study found that a fifth of the 4000 people questioned were surviving on less than five hours' sleep a night.

Two-thirds of those in the survey complained of being kept awake by stress and worry – often about their jobs or by money. Half were bothered because they were either too hot or too cold, and two-fifths couldn't sleep because of their noisy neighbours. "There have only been a couple of surveys but what they have shown is that for people whose sleep is restricted, even by a couple of hours, it has a knock-on effect on their appetite," adds Dr Idzikowski.

"If they put on weight then that, in turn, can make the problem worse because it leads to poor breathing and sleep apnoea."

It's a vicious circle that's hard to break, especially as those who need treatment to stop them from snoring are often unable to undergo surgery because they are overweight.

This is why Dr Idzikowski and his team are now focusing on the link between junk sleep and weight, and are referring patients to see a fitness trainer.

The Edinburgh Sleep Centre is also about to employ a dietician to make patients aware that the high sugar foods and caffeine drinks they are consuming during the day are contributing to their restless nights. This is difficult, of course, because – hormones aside – if you feel yourself flagging, the chances are your good-intentioned diet is going to be pushed into the back of your mind in favour of a bar of chocolate and yet more caffeine to compensate for the low energy level reached.

Then, when you get home – especially if it's late and you're stressed – there's a high possibility you are going to ignore all those lovely fresh vegetables in your fridge and dial up a pizza instead.

"Due to lack of energy you may feel less motivated to plan and prepare meals from scratch when you're tired, so you're more tempted to grab what's there," says Slimming World dietitian Carolyn Pallister. "Some people also reach for a high fat or sugar snack for a quick energy boost, which can sabotage all your efforts to lose weight."

So what's to be done? Well, Dr Idzikowski says the first thing is that we all need to take our need for sleep much more seriously.

With an estimated quarter of Britain's workforce – 15 million people – taking days off because of a bad night's sleep, it seems that businesses would also do well to consider the mental health of their employees.

So this evening, if you were planning to head to the gym, perhaps what you should do instead is go home and make your bedroom a haven of tranquillity.

Then, to stop yourself from worrying all night long, put a pen and paper beside your bed so you can write down your fears if you wake up during the night.

Enjoy a healthy, nutritious dinner, relax in a warm bath, read a book and get yourself in the mood for the easiest food-fast you've ever experienced. You never know, it might lead to you becoming a few pounds lighter.