The Association Between Sleeping Hours and Body Weight

Abstract

Background: In recent years, short sleep has been increasingly recognized as a risk factor for obesity. The study aimed to study association between sleep duration and body mass index. Material and methods: A cross sectional study for both gender with age between 18 to 65 years was done, Participants were directly interviewed the well-constructed Questionnaire at primary health care center in Afak at Al-Diwaniyah city during period of 2 months. This survey consisted of questions addressing demographics, height and weight were measured, Duration of the sleep-in hours per night, body exercise habits minimal 30 minutes per session and dietary habits were collected per questionnaire. A study protocols were approved by the Arab board of health specialization. Statistical analyses were performed using statistical package for the social sciences computer software program. Result: A total of 200 patients were enrolled in this study, the mean age was 32.4 years with female to male ratio was 3:1. The patients with short sleep duration was 41.5% (83) of patients, normal sleep duration was found among 51.5%(103) of patients and long sleep duration was found among 7%(14) of patients. The mean sleep duration shown a significant difference according to BMI of participants (p<0.001), with lowest mean found among obese patients. The mean sleep duration shown no significant difference according to frequency of exercise and general anxiety disorder score, also there were no significant correlation between sleeping hours and daily dietary intake. Conclusion: short sleep duration was more closely linked to obesity categories across BMI.