Sleep time has decreased 1.5 hours over the past century accompanied by rise in obesity

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Monday, December 13, 2010 11:42 am Email this article
"The time we sleep has declined by 1.5 [hours] over the past century, accompanied by an important increase in obesity," notes to a recent paper by researchers at the University of Murcia in Murcia, Spain. Shorter Sleep Times

Shorter sleep times causes impaired glucose tolerance and reduced insulin responsiveness

“Moreover, a third of adults sleep less than six hours a night.

“Clinical studies show that healthy subjects restricted to 4 [hours] of sleep for six consecutive nights showed impaired glucose tolerance and reduced insulin responsiveness after a glucose challenge.

“These metabolic changes are rather concerning children, in whom short sleep duration, affected by factors such as the day of the week, season and having younger siblings, has been described as an independent risk factor for obesity,” the authors note.

REFERENCE

Garaulet M, Ordovas J, Madrid J. The chronobiology, etiology and pathophysiology of obesity. Int J Obes (Lond). 2010 Jun 22, published on-line.

AUTHOR’S CONTACT INFORMATION

Dr M Garaulet
Faculty of Biology, Department of Physiology
University of Murcia, Faculty of Biology
Campus of Espinardo
Murcia 30100, Spain
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