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Prior studies have shown that insufficient sleep affects neuroendocrine responses to caloric restriction. In this randomized crossover study, 10 overweight middle-aged adults — whose caloric intake was restricted to 90% of their resting metabolic rate — were assigned to 5.5 or 8.5 hours of sleep daily for 14 days; about 3 months later, they crossed over to the other sleep schedule for another 14 days. Fat loss, fat-free body mass, and several endocrine hormones were monitored.
At study's end, mean weight loss with each treatment was about 3 kg. However, people who slept for 8.5 hours lost 56% of weight as fat, whereas people who slept for 5.5 hours lost 25% of weight as fat. In addition, sleep-deprived participants had lower resting metaboli…