Monday, November 5, 2012

Belly fat ruins your sleep

Weight loss, whether it's from dietary chnages alone or from diet combined with exercise, can help improve the quality of sleep among people who are overweight or obese, according to a new study by Johns Hopkins researchers.

    "We found that improvement in sleep quality was significantly associated with overall weight loss, especially belly fat," says Kerry Stewart, senior author of the study.
    The volunteers of the study lost about 15 per cent of their body weight and that resulted sleep score by about 20per cent.
     "The key ingredient for improved sleep quality from our study was a reduction in overall body fat, and, in particular belly fat, which was true no matter the age or gender," says Stewart.
     Good sleep quality is important in general for good physical and mental health, as well as for a healthy cardiovascular system, notes Stewart. Depending on the cause, chronic sleep disruptions increase the risk of high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke and irregular heartbeats. Obesity increases the risk of sleep problems.

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