Obese adults ‘can improve sleep and mood with weight loss’

Obese adults can benefit from better sleeping patterns and an improved mood by losing a substantial amount of weight, according to a University of Pennsylvania study.

The research involved 390 subjects and compared three behavioural interventions for weight loss in obese adults treated in primary care practices over a span of two years.

It was shown that subjects who lost at least five percent of their weight after six months gained an average of 21.6 minutes of sleep a night, compared with only 1.2 minutes for those who lost less than five percent.

Meanwhile, greater improvements on measures of sleep quality and mood were also seen in the former group. Only the improvements in mood remained statistically significant at 24 months.

Study lead investigator Dr Nasreen Alfaris at the University of Pennsylvania said: "Further studies are needed to examine the potential effects of weight regain in diminishing the short-term improvements of weight loss on sleep duration and sleep quality."

In the UK, obesity is estimated to affect one in every four adults and around one in five children aged 10 to 11.