Staying up late for two consecutive weeks leads to an 11% increase in visceral fat, and even a three-day sleep supplement is difficult to reverse

Many people think that sleeping less on weekdays and getting more sleep on weekends is enough to make up for it. But research has found that insufficient sleep can disrupt the physiological clock and may not necessarily reverse visceral fat. A randomized controlled study in the United States showed that after 14 consecutive days of sleep deprivation, participants' total abdominal fat increased by about 9% and visceral fat increased by about 11%. Even after sleeping for 9 hours every night for 3 consecutive days, visceral fat continues to increase.

Weight loss specialist Fan Yaxuan said that insufficient sleep not only makes people lose energy and easily tired the next day, but also may change appetite, allowing people to eat more calories. It can also affect where fat grows, making it easier for fat to accumulate deep in the stomach. Short term sleep can help restore mental health, but it may not necessarily quickly eliminate the visceral fat that has already formed. The accumulated fat is difficult to disappear in a short period of time.

This study was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC). A randomized controlled crossover trial was conducted on 12 healthy adults aged 19 to 39 without obesity issues. The subjects sometimes slept for 9 hours per night, and sometimes only slept for 4 hours per night. Researchers used computed tomography to track changes in their abdominal fat.

As a result, it was found that when sleep was limited, the subjects ate an average of about 308 calories more per day, but there was no significant increase in energy expenditure. After 14 consecutive days, the net weight increased by about 0.5 kilograms compared to normal sleep. The total abdominal fat area increased by about 9%, and the visceral fat area increased by about 11%.

At the end of the study, a 3-day recovery period was arranged, with participants sleeping for 9 hours every night to see if they could make up for their sleep debt. Although calorie intake and weight gradually returned to a state close to normal sleep, visceral fat did not immediately stop and continued to increase. This indicates that 'staying up late today and catching up on sleep tomorrow' may not completely offset the metabolic effects of sleep deprivation.

Fan Yaxuan said that insufficient sleep may also affect the brain's reward and appetite control areas, making people more easily attracted to high oil, high sugar, and high calorie foods and unconsciously consuming more calories. Generally, the excess energy will first be stored in subcutaneous fat, but when sleep is insufficient, the distribution of fat may change, and the risk of visceral fat accumulation may also increase.

However, this study only involved 12 people, and the experimental conditions were to sleep only 4 hours per night, which cannot be understood as' occasionally staying up late will definitely lead to weight gain '. Fan Yaxuan emphasized that what really needs to be careful is that long-term sleep deprivation becomes a norm in daily life, which may increase the risk of obesity and metabolic abnormalities.

If you really didn't get enough sleep the night before, you can take a 15 to 30 minute nap during the day to help restore your energy, but it cannot replace regular sleep at night. Adults should try to sleep for 7 to 9 hours a day, with fixed bedtime and wake-up times; Reduce the use of 3C products such as mobile phones 30 to 60 minutes before bedtime, and avoid eating large meals or greasy late night snacks 2 to 3 hours before bedtime.