Residents of many developed countries are having increased problems with not getting enough sleep and gaining too many pounds.

Many individuals that experience ASMR would quickly point out that ASMR helps them to fall asleep – which may be resulting in increased sleep for these individuals.

If increased sleep resulted in increased weight loss then that would be a lovely ‘two-for’ eh?

Well, some scientists believe there may be a solid connection between those two.

A recent article in USA today discussed this topic and highlighted some current science and theories that decreased sleep may be a cause of increased weight gain.  And therefore more sleep may result in more weight loss and/or less weight gain.

Sleep the pounds away?  Too good to be true?

Yes, of course it is too good to be true.  Getting more sleep than you need will probably not be beneficial.

The point here is to increase your sleep amount to adequate levels and that may help you to lose weight.

This still may surprise you.  Everyone seems to encourage “more activity” as a way to lose weight.

So it would seem logical that being awake for 20 hours should result in better weight loss than being awake for 16 hours.

But this may not be so.

Lets dig into the USA Today article.

The article highlights previous research that sleep deprivation increases your level of hunger molecules.  So being sleep deprived may result in you being more active, but you will also have more time to satiate that increased hunger with yummy foods.

I can also speak for myself to say that when I am tired and short on sleep, I am less likely to exercise.  I prefer a couch, a TV, and a delicious bag of anything.

The article cites the results of one study that showed individuals who did not get adequate sleep for five days gained 2 pounds in that short time.

That may not sound like much but do the math on the worst case scenario of not getting adequate sleep for an entire year.

Yep, that could result in about 140 pounds gained in one year.  But this is just a dramatic extrapolation, I don’t think any research study has forced people to be sleep deprived for an entire year.

Lets get back to ASMR.

If ASMR helps some individuals to fall asleep faster, and perhaps helps individuals to get more sleep, then ASMR may be preventin those individuals from gaining excess pounds due to sleep deprivation.

Unfortunately, no research on ASMR and weight management has been done yet, so this is just conjecture.

The USA Today article does offer a lot more detail on the science linking sleep deprivation and weight gain so I do highly recommend it.

Click HERE to read the USA Today article.

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