Sleep longer to lose baby weight

[Kazbah]

Sleep longer to lose baby weight

Researchers have presented a conundrum to new mothers, saying that women who want to lose the extra weight gained in pregnancy should try to get more sleep.

They found that mothers who slept five hours or less a day when their babies were six months old were three times more likely than more rested mothers to have kept on the extra weight at one year.

"We've known for some time that sleep deprivation is associated with weight gain and obesity in the general population, but this study shows that getting enough sleep - even just two hours more - may be as important as a healthy diet and exercise for new mothers to return to their pre-pregnancy weight," said Erica Gunderson of Kaiser Permanente, which runs hospitals and clinics in California.

Gunderson and colleagues studied 940 women taking part in a study of prenatal and postnatal health at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

The women who slept five hours or less a night when their babies were six months old were more likely to have kept on 5 kilograms of weight one year after giving birth, they found.

Women who slept seven hours a night or more lost more weight, they reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

The researchers acknowledged this may pose a dilemma to new mothers, given that infants sleep so fitfully.

"With the results of this study, new mothers must be wondering, 'How can I get more sleep for both me and my baby?' Our team is working on new studies to answer this important question," said Dr. Matthew Gillman of Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care.

Yeah, right. Where the heck am I going to get that sleep?

[Deltadawn]

I was thinking the exact same thing Kazbah! Do these "researchers" live in the real world ???

[mrsr]

Can you buy sleep? Now there's a market.

[jaspen]

i'd just like to say I sleep 9 hrs a night and usually about 7 hrs a night during the first six months (give or take the odd bad week - and I really know how lucky I am trust me) and it didn't help me lose weight!!!! LOL

[MrsFabuloso]

Ohhh, so that's the problem I'll just have to tell Lily that she made me fat, so now she has to sleep to make me slim again!! Hehehehe, how am I gonna make my 7mth old sleep more?? If I knew I would have done it months ago....

[mrsr]

That explains my bargearse.

[hefty_body]

I don't quite see how sleeping will help you loose the weight.. your body is not active, sure you digest while you sleep, and you often wake looking thiner when you sleep well, but I doubt that you get any lighter. I think it has more to do with your body relaxing with out the strain of gravity on all your features as when you are standing. You can compress your spine to a noticable height difference throughout the day.

[AnyDream]

getting enough sleep - even just two hours more

Since when has two whole hours been an "even just" kind of amount of sleep???

[LiddlePixie]

"With the results of this study, new mothers must be wondering, 'How can I get more sleep for both me and my baby?' Our team is working on new studies to answer this important question,"

What the.. Are they trying to come up with a miracle solution to make babies sleep longer?