Lack of sleep may take your body's fat metabolism for toss says the latest study. If you have been working up late or not getting enough sleep for whatever reason, you must make some necessary amends to your lifestyle. According to a study published in the Journal of Lipid Research, a few days of sleep deprivation can make participants feel less full after eating and metabolise the fat in food differently. This, in turn, could even lead to weight gain.
Previous studies have found a link between sleep deprivation and metabolism of fat, Orfeu Buxton, a professor at Penn State and one of the senior authors of the new study, contributed to previous research by demonstrating how long-term sleep restriction puts people at a higher risk of obesity and diabetes. However, Buxton said, most of those studies have focused on glucose metabolism, which is important for diabetes, while relatively few have assessed digestion of lipids from food.
After participants spent a week getting plenty of sleep at home, 15 healthy men in their 20s checked into the sleep lab for the ten-night study. For a span of five nights, none of the participants spent more than five hours in bed each night.
To find out how the uncomfortable schedule affected metabolism, the researchers gave participants a standardised high-fat dinner, a bowl of chilli mac, after four nights of sleep restriction.
"It was very palatable -- none of our subjects had trouble finishing it -- but very calorically dense," Ness said. Most participants felt less satisfied after eating the same rich meal while sleep-deprived than when they had eaten it well-rested.
Researchers also compared the blood samples of the study participants. The findings revealed that
sleep restriction affected the postprandial lipid response, leading to faster clearance of lipids from the blood after a meal.
The study was highly controlled and it also focused on healthy young people who are usually at a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. Another limitation of the study was that all participants were men. However, scientists believe that the study gives worthy insight which could be used to manage healthy fat digestion.
(With inputs ANI)
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