Two of my favorite topics are the benefits of sleep and how to maintain a lower steady state weight. (Notice how I worded that–very technically accurate). So you can imagine my excitement when I ran across this study out of the University of Chicago and Wisconsin published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

In a very well conducted study they tested how getting adequate amounts of sleep affected overall energy balance. They randomized 80 people aged 21-40 roughly equal men and women who typically had less than 6 1/2 hours of sleep. In half of them, they let them continue their patterns. In the other half they educated them at length about good sleep hygiene and monitored them and targeted that they receive 8 1/2 hours of sleep. After two weeks with a sophisticated “Double Water Method” they measured everyone’s energy expenditure and with strict journals, their energy intake.

What they found is that those who received more sleep on average consumed 270 calories LESS each day than those who received less sleep. Over 3 years this translates to about a 26 lb weight loss!

This study is on the heels of a multitude of data that points to getting adequate amounts of sleep being associated with lower weight. Now the reason for consuming 270 calories less is not studied in this article. On one end, it could be a simple as you can’t eat in your sleep. If you are awake fewer hours, there are fewer hours to consume calories. It could also be true that our satiety hormones of leptin and ghrelin function optimally with adequate sleep. That we are less hungry with adequate sleep and sleep works as well as a weight loss pill.

There are a legion more benefits to adequate sleep than just a lower steady state weight, but weight loss is a multi-billion dollar industry and this is an intervention that costs you nothing.