MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS, N.Y., July 28 (Our New York News) — For a lot of adults, losing an hour or so of sleep can feel harmless in the moment. But a Columbia University study suggests that repeating that pattern for weeks may do more than leave someone tired: it may also add a small amount of weight, slightly enlarge the waist, and make people a bit more sedentary.
What did Columbia researchers find?
Researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and Columbia University Irving Medical Center reported in Annals of Internal Medicine that adults who shortened sleep by about 80 to 90 minutes a night for six weeks gained about 1 pound on average. The study also found a modest increase in waist circumference of about 0.52 centimeters, or roughly half a centimeter.
The researchers said the sleep restriction was designed to reflect the kind of chronic sleep loss many adults experience.
Who was studied?
The study involved 95 adults who were already at elevated risk for heart or metabolic disease. According to the journal article and Columbia’s release, the participants went through six-week periods of adequate sleep and reduced sleep in a pooled analysis of randomized trials.
What else changed besides weight?
The Columbia release said participants spent more time being sedentary when they slept less. Sedentary time increased by an average of 17 minutes per day overall. Among men and postmenopausal women, sedentary time rose by nearly 30 minutes per day.
The journal article reported no significant changes in body fat or muscle mass, even though average weight went up.
Why does this matter for everyday life?
The practical takeaway is not that one short night of sleep will suddenly cause weight gain. The study looked at sleep cutbacks repeated over weeks, not a single late bedtime. But the findings suggest that short sleep can be one factor that slowly pushes weight and activity in the wrong direction over time.
Faris Zuraikat, the study’s first author and an assistant professor of nutritional medicine at Columbia, said in the university’s release: “While the one-pound weight gain observed with modest sleep curtailment is not overwhelming, it is important to remember this is occurring over just six weeks.”
He added: “When extrapolated to a full year, we would expect that losing less than an hour and a half of sleep per night could result in clinically meaningful weight gain.”
What should readers take from the study?
The Columbia findings add to evidence that sleep is one of the daily habits tied to weight and activity. The size of the average change was small, but the study suggests that regular sleep loss may have measurable effects even before a person notices a big difference on the scale.
