Sleeping too little will make you fat

The British Daily Telegraph reported that the study found that bad sleeping conditions may lead to the increase of weight.The study, carried out by the University of Leeds in England, involved 1615 adults, whose daily sleeping and diet were recorded by the researchers. The results showed that the waistline of people who slept 6 hours per night were 3 centimeters more than that of those who slept 9 hours. That is to say, less sleep might make people fat. Meanwhile,too little sleep can cause a decrease in HDL cholesterol, which can remove body fat and help prevent diseases such as heart disease.

The study found that free thyroxine is closely related to sleep deprivation, and that lack of sleep can result in lower levels of free thyroid gland. Besides, the thyroid gland plays an important role in metabolism. As a consequence, the researchers made a conclusion that chronic sleep deprivation makes the hypothyroidism, which brings about obesity.

However, the study did not find any link between short sleeping times and poor eating habits. In the past other studies showed that lack of sleep can lead to unhealthy eating habits, but this study has proved that sleep itself can affect body weight.

英国《每日电讯报》报道说，研究发现，糟糕的睡眠状况可能会引发体重增长。这项由英国利兹大学进行的研究，总共有1615名成年人参加，研究人员记录了他们每天的睡眠和饮食情况。结果发现，每晚睡6个小时的人比睡9小时的人腰围多出3厘米，也就是说，睡眠少可能会让人变胖。同时，睡眠时间过短也会造成高密度脂蛋白胆固醇减少，这种类型的胆固醇能够移除身体脂肪，有利于预防心脏病之类的疾病。

这次研究发现，游离的甲状腺素和睡眠不足有紧密的联系，睡眠不足能够导致游离甲状腺水平降低。而甲状腺在代谢过程中发挥了很大的作用，所以研究人员推断，长期缺乏睡眠导致甲状腺功能低下，从而引发了肥胖。

但是，研究并没有发现睡眠时间短和糟糕的饮食习惯之间的任何联系。过去有其他的研究认为，睡眠缺乏会导致不良的饮食习惯，但是这项研究却证明了，睡眠本身就能够影响到体重。