Las Vegas — Weight-loss experts have a novel prescription for people who want to shed pounds: Get some sleep.
A large study has found a surprisingly strong link between the amount of shut-eye people get and their risk of becoming obese.
Those who got less than four hours of sleep a night were 73 percent more likely to be obese than those who got the recommended seven to nine hours of rest, scientists discovered. Those who averaged five hours of sleep had 50 percent greater risk, and those who got six hours had 23 percent more.
Dr. Steven Heymsfield of Columbia University and St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in New Yor and James Gangwisch, a Columbia epidemiologist, led the study and are presenting results this week at a meeting of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity.
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