As important as reducing stress and getting plenty of sleep are to health and well-being, these habits rarely make it to the top of people’s to-do lists. New research from the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, however, suggests a good reason to finally slot them in: these healthy habits can help you shed extra pounds.
In the study, published in the International Journal of Obesity, researchers assessed participants’ weight, stress and sleep levels along with several other health factors. Men and women were then instructed to eat 500 fewer calories a day, exercise at a moderate pace for about 30-60 minutes daily, record everything they ate, and design their menus around the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet, which emphasizes whole grains, fruits and vegetables, low-fat dairy, poultry, nuts and fish.
After 26 weeks, the results were in: “The people who got adequate amounts of sleep and reported the lowest stress levels lost more weight,” says study author Charles Elder, MD, MPH. “Those who got six, but less than eight hours of sleep, and reported the lowest stress levels were twice as likely as those who got less than six hours of sleep and reported the highest stress levels to lose ten pounds.”
A lack of sleep is linked to changes in hormones that regulate appetite, and chronic stress has been tied to obesity. Yet, “while we have known there are associations between stress, sleep and obesity, it was surprising to see that baseline stress and sleep levels predicted success in the weight-loss program,” Elder says.
Researchers at Kaiser Permanente had already discovered that recording food intake ups the odds of losing weight. “A paper we published in 2008 found that people who kept food diaries every day lost twice as much weight as those who kept no diaries,” Elder says. “It doesn’t matter whether you keep an electronic diary or use paper and pen. Either way, writing everything down keeps you accountable.” One helpful tool: the My Diet Diary-Calorie Counter iPhone app, launched by GE’s healthymagination and MedHelp, a health-related social network, which allows users to log what they eat and calculates calories consumed.
To hit the sweet spot of sleep, Elder recommends cutting back on busy schedules and getting to bed earlier. Mind-body techniques, such as meditation, can keep stress manageable, he adds. And some people find that exercise does double duty: reducing stress and fostering sleep. “If people can make these changes first,” Elder says, “they will likely be more successful at losing weight.
CONNECT THE DOTS
Connect with the NIH’s Weight-control Information Network (WIN) for more information about healthy weight loss. GE offers a free sleep tracker app to help you monitor your sleeping patterns. The Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research also provides a food record form that can be downloaded to record what you eat.
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