Does Oversleeping Make You Gain Weight?
Sleeping is an amazing way to recharge after a long day of working out, working at your job, or simply running errands. Many American adults don't get enough sleep due to late-night work, social activities, or finishing projects late at night.
Sleeping is vital for your health, but what if you get too much? In this article, I will explain whether oversleeping is linked to weight gain and other problems, or if it is just a myth.
Few more minutes…
Oversleeping seems harmless when you look at it. Who would not want a few extra hours of sleep to relax and start the day later? But according to Psychology Today,
"The truth is, sleeping too much has negative effects on health and well-being – and may also contribute to weight problems. Research suggests there's a link between too much sleep and weight gain. As with too little sleep, there is a greater risk of obesity among people who sleep too much."
Regularly sleeping much longer than usual has been linked in studies to weight gain, body pain, heart disease, stroke, and depression. These are associations, not proof that extra sleep causes them.
Long sleep can also be a sign of an underlying problem, such as depression, a sleep disorder, or another illness. If you routinely need far more sleep than usual and still feel tired, talk to a doctor.
A Quick Nap Shouldn't Hurt
For an oversleeper, a few extra minutes may not seem like a big deal. But the Quebec Family Study, which followed adults for about six years, linked both short and long sleep to weight gain. According to NCBI,
"This study provides evidence that both short and long sleeping times predict an increased risk of future body weight and fat gain in adults. Hence, these results emphasize the need to add sleep duration to the panel of determinants that contribute to weight gain and obesity."
In that study, compared with people who slept 7-8 hours, those sleeping 9-10 hours gained about 1.6 kg (3.5 pounds) more over six years, and those sleeping 5-6 hours gained about 2 kg (4.4 pounds) more.
So both too little and too much sleep are linked to weight gain. Short sleep is the more common problem for most adults.
Conclusion
To end off this article, regularly oversleeping is linked to weight gain and several health problems, although research has not shown that it directly causes them. Too little sleep carries similar risks.
The CDC recommends that adults ages 18-60 get 7 or more hours of sleep a night, per its About Sleep page. Many people fall short of that, which is a bigger concern for most than sleeping too long.
