Research Presented At The Obesity Society Meeting Shows Link Between BMI And Sleep Patterns

Bull. This is an ad for an equipment manufacturer.

Key findings:

Although there is wide variation, there are significant differences in mean sleep time between certain BMI categories.

Gender is an important factor in explaining the relationship between sleep and BMI.

Overall, people with higher BMIs had less sleep, but the increase in weight and sleep is more closely related in women than men.

Among adults in the BMI range of 18.5 to 40, women get 20 minutes more sleep per night than men on average.

The largest difference in sleep time was seen between Class I and Class II obese groups of males, with a decline of 11 minutes for men in Class II. (Class I = BMI of 30-34.9; Class II = BMI of 35-39.9)

"Our twelve years of body monitoring experience has allowed us to amass one of the largest living databases of free-living activity information on people, and we are pleased to provide important insights that can help advance the understanding of obesity and weight management," stated Christine Robins, CEO of BodyMedia Inc. "This study shows that body monitoring devices can truly help people better understand their bodies to make positive health changes."

11 minutes and you go up a Class in obesity!

And what is BodyMedia, Inc.?

The observational study, which was conducted by the Northwestern University Comprehensive Center on Obesity and BodyMedia Inc., makers of body monitoring Armbands...

'Nuff said.