Home temperature and sleep loss linked to obesity
By ANIFriday, February 25, 2011
LONDON - An Italian study has suggested that living in a cooler home and getting a decent night’s sleep could help rein in the obesity epidemic.
A research team, led by Simona Bo at the University of Turin in Italy, found the odds of a person becoming obese declined by 30 per cent for each hour of sleep they managed, reports the Daily Mail.
Meanwhile, those who liked living in a toasty hot house were twice as likely to become obese as those who kept their homes no warmer than 20C.
These findings held true even when factors such as physical activity level and TV watching were taken into account.
The study followed more than a thousand middle-aged adults over six years.
Dr Bo and her colleagues, said: “Relatively unexplored contributors to the obesity and diabetes epidemics may include sleep restriction, increased house temperature, television watching, consumption of restaurant meals, use of air-conditioning and use of anti-depressant drugs.”
David Allison at the University of Alabama at Birmingham said a cooler indoor temperature could affect your weight as the body burns more calories when it has to work to maintain a stable temperature.
The study has been published in the International Journal of Obesity. (ANI)
