The Weight Of Wakefulness

It’s all-too tempting to stay up late binge-watching a TV series or scroll mindlessly on our phones past bedtime. But, as Nicole Mowbray discovers, lack of sleep could also be responsible for our inability to shift those unwanted kilos.

- Nicole Mowbray

How far would you go to beat the battle of the bulge? Be at the gym at 6am? Give up bread, potatoes and pasta? Banish the biscuit barrel and chuck away the chocolate?

Many of us have been there, done that. But the secret to keeping ourselves in shape lies in doing less rather than more, or so thinks Matthew Walker, professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and founder and director of the Center for Human Sleep Science. He says that bad sleeping patterns or a general lack of kip can lead to everything from serious heart problems to mental health issues. He even found that those who sleep well look younger and make more money. What’s more, a recent study of 7500 people published in the journal Scientific Reports demonstrated a marked link between weight gain and insomnia.

Bad news for the likes of Kim Kardashian (a self-confessed insomniac), Donald Trump (who’s often up tweeting at 4am) and Nigella Lawson, who has revealed she goes to bed at 7.30pm and then sleeps in two-hour bursts “and not many of them”. Dr Walker’s findings – which stem from his own research (he has published more than 100 studies), and those of other scientists – make worrying reading in the sleep department.

THE CHEMICAL CHANGES

Because simply put, a lack of sleep is making us fat. Not only does tiredness sap our get-up-and-go, it alters our bodies on a chemical level. “One week of short sleep – five or six hours per night – will change your blood sugar levels so significantly that your doctor would classify you as being prediabetic,” says Dr Walker.