A Simple Bedtime Change May Help Individuals Lose Weight, Study Finds
Earlier sleep linked to weight loss
The analysis examined sleep and weight data from 196 adults diagnosed with prediabetes. Participants regularly slept less than 6.5 hours per night. Over an eight-week period, each hour earlier that participants fell asleep corresponded with roughly 1.3 pounds of weight loss. The finding concerns sleep onset timing, rather than simply how long people slept.
Trial included lifestyle education
The study was published in Nursing Research. The report does not say that the bedtime shift itself produced the weight changes.
Cause remains unproven
Researchers found an association between earlier sleep timing and weight reduction, independent of participants’ total sleep hours. That does not establish that going to bed earlier will cause someone to lose weight.
The results focus on adults with prediabetes who typically slept under 6.5 hours nightly. They do not establish whether the same relationship applies to other groups.
Key points
- Earlier sleep onset was associated with greater weight loss among adults with prediabetes.
- Each hour earlier participants fell asleep corresponded to about 1.3 pounds lost over eight weeks.
- The association did not depend on total sleep duration.
- The study does not prove that an earlier bedtime causes weight loss.