Losing just the excess weight has been found to help improve sleep abnormalities and wake impairments in overweight mice. A new study suggests having a healthier diet could significantly improve alertness and sleep without reducing all the weight, an approach that could potentially help overweight individuals.

Earlier studies show the association of obesity to persistent sleepiness, lack of energy during the day, and poor sleep quality, which could all be treated by losing weight. However, little was known to the connection of excessive weight to poor dietary habits and sleep or wake abnormalities.

Researchers of the new study analysed obesity in obese mice to see the effect of diet on the sleep of overweight subjects. The new study, published in the journal Sleep, highlights that poor sleep could lead to impaired cognitive function and chronic health problems like obesity, hypertension and depression.

The researchers from the University of Pennsylvania provided regular chow (RC) to a group of mice and another group were fed with high-fat diet (HFD), over three times higher in fat content, for eight weeks.

At the end of the eight-week period, the researchers switched the diets of the groups. Results show the newly-fed HFD mice had an increased weight a week after receiving the new diet, while the newly-fed RC mice reduced weight.

Furthermore, mice that continued to receive HFD increased weight by 30 percent, slept more than an hour longer each day, and had an increased wake abnormalities.

"Our findings suggest body weight is a less important factor than changes in weight for regulating sleepiness," said lead author Isaac Perron, a PhD student in Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania. "Diet-induced obese mice that ate a regular chow diet for only one week showed the same sleep/wake profile as mice that ate a regular chow diet for nine weeks."

The change in diet in the final week has the significant effect on the sleep of the mice, Perron added. This indicates that simple dietary changes to reduce excess weight may help an individual feel more awake during the day and be motivated to live a healthier lifestyle.

"This study has mapped a completely novel food and sleep interaction," said co-author Sigrid Veasey, a professor in the division of Sleep Medicine and a member of Penn's Centre for Sleep and Circadian Neurobiology. The researchers are aiming to conduct the study with human subjects to further see how dietary changes could affect sleep.

Contact the writer at feedback@ibtimes.com.au or tell us what you think below

RELATED STORIES