Sleep is key to weight loss for new moms (research shows)

I was doing some research for my project and I chanced upon this article which could be of interest for my readers, here it goes:

Dr. Erica Gunderson (PhD), an investigator from Kaiser Permanente Northern California, led a study of 940 women enrolled in Project Viva, a multicentre observational study of prenatal diet and lifestyle, pregnancy outcome and infant health. Dr. Gunderson and colleagues analyzed weight and sleep duration data at six months and one year postpartum.

The study links shorter sleep duration to postpartum weight retention, Dr. Gunderson told the Medical Post. "The findings suggest that getting enough sleep may be as important as a healthy diet and physical activity to helping new mothers return to their pre-pregnancy weight."

Mean weight retention at one year was 0.8 kg. There were 124 women (13%) who retained substantial pregnancy weight (5 kg or more above their prepregnancy weight) at one year postpartum. Sleep duration was divided into four groups: five hours or less, six hours, seven hours and eight hours or more per night.

Mothers who got the least sleep at six months postpartum were the most likely to retain substantial pregnancy weight after one year.

"When the baby is six months old, if they report getting five hours of sleep or less, they have a three-fold risk of substantial weight retention at one year, compared to women who report getting seven hours or more," Dr. Gunderson said.

Those who got less sleep in the second six months than they did in the first six months postpartum were also at significantly increased risk for substantial weight retention, compared with those who got more sleep in the second period. "No matter what amount they said they were getting at six months, if that decreased over time so that at one year they were sleeping less, that doubled the risk."

New mothers, bear this in mind! Get your hubbies to feed the babies at night if they want your figure back!

Reference:

Patricia Nicholson. (2007) Sleep key to weight loss for new moms. Medical Post. Vol. 43, Iss. 40; pg. 1, 2 pgs. Toronto.