Pounds Cling to Sleep-Deprived Moms
Not just diet and exercise but tiredness, too, seems to affect weight

(HealthDay News) -- It's safe to say that most (if not all) new moms are tired.

But the sleep deprivation they experience in the weeks after childbirth might be keeping them from shedding the weight they gained during pregnancy, a study has found.

Experts aren't sure just what causes the link between loss of sleep and the inability to lose weight, but it's intriguing, said Erica P. Gunderson, lead author of the study and an investigator with the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland , Calif.

"Getting enough sleep may be as important as a healthy diet and physical activity to returning to pre-pregnancy weight," Gunderson said.

Other studies have linked low amounts of sleep to obesity, heart disease and diabetes. But there's been little research into the connection between sleep, pregnancy and weight, the researchers said.

For the study, they looked at the weights and sleep patterns of 940 pregnant women enrolled in a study in Massachusetts . A year after giving birth, 124 of the women had retained at least 11 pounds of the weight they had gained during pregnancy.

Women who slept five hours a day six months after giving birth were found to be more than three times as likely to keep weight on than were women who slept seven hours. Sleeping six, seven or eight hours a day didn't appear to raise a woman's risk of keeping on weight.

"Basically, the women who were sleeping fewer hours did not lose as much weight as women who slept several more hours," Gunderson said.

It might seem that people who sleep less would lose more weight because they'd spend more time awake, burning calories. But the study suggests the opposite, Gunderson said, perhaps because people become hungrier from lack of sleep. "If you're awake more, you may have more opportunities to eat," she added.

Though a crying baby can derail the best of plans, the National Sleep Foundation suggests that women who want to get more and better sleep:

• Examine diet, exercise patterns, sleeping environment, personal habits, lifestyle and current concerns. As you begin to see a connection between, for example, what or when you eat and nights of poor sleep, you can develop your own good sleep plan.
• Avoid caffeine and don't eat too much. A heavy meal close to bedtime can make you less comfortable when you're trying to sleep. But, going to bed hungry can be just as disruptive to sleep as going to bed too full.
• Exercise. It can be a boon for good sleep, especially when done regularly in the afternoon and not too close to bedtime.

New moms who want to exercise might be able to enlist the help of family members, friends or other moms so that they can get a break and go for a walk. And as a bonus, exercising also will help shed those pregnancy pounds.

On the Web

To learn more about women and sleep, visit the National Sleep Foundation.

SOURCES: HealthDay News ; Erica P. Gunderson, Ph.D., investigator, Kaiser Permanente Division of Research, Oakland, Calif.; Claire D. Brindis, Dr.P.H., professor of pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco; November 2007, American Journal of Epidemiology ; National Sleep Foundation (www.sleepfoundation.org)
Author: Anne Thompson
Publication Date: Nov. 30, 2008
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