How Losing Around 80 Minutes of Sleep a Night Could Drive Weight Gain and Inactivity
Key Takeaways:
- Adults who cut their nightly sleep by about 80 minutes over six weeks gained roughly one pound (around 0.45 kg) on average and became more sedentary, Columbia University researchers found.
- Modest over six weeks, but the team estimates that sustaining this mild sleep loss for a year could cause clinically meaningful weight gain – a pattern affecting around 30% of adults.
- Related work in the same participants linked mild sleep restriction to greater insulin resistance and heart inflammation, pointing to a wider risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Why modest sleep loss deserves attention
Trimming a little sleep each night may carry more weight for your health than you might realise. Researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons found that adults who shortened their nightly sleep by about 80 minutes over a six-week period gained an average of one pound and spent more of their waking hours being inactive.
The findings add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that consistently getting enough sleep may play an important role in preventing weight gain and in lowering the risk of obesity-related disease. Rather than pointing solely to diet and exercise, the results place sleep alongside them as a factor worth taking seriously.
“Our study shows that getting adequate sleep may help reduce the risk of weight gain and obesity-related conditions like heart disease and diabetes,” says Marie-Pierre St-Onge, a professor of nutritional medicine in Columbia’s Department of Medicine and Institute for Human Nutrition and the study leader. “People tend to gain weight over the course of their adulthood, and obesity is a major risk factor for heart disease. But focusing on eating a healthier diet and getting more physical activity to offset weight gain is simplistic and can be difficult to maintain.”
Looking beyond extreme sleep deprivation
Much of the earlier research connecting poor sleep with obesity has centred on severe sleep deprivation, frequently restricting people to as little as four hours of sleep a night. Those studies indicated that extreme sleep loss can heighten appetite and encourage overeating – behaviours that in turn contribute to weight gain.
The difficulty is that such severe restriction is hard for most people to sustain for more than a few days, which limits how far the results can be applied to everyday life. Very few people live with four hours of sleep for weeks at a time, so the relevance of those findings to the wider population has remained uncertain.
“These studies only show us what happens under the most extreme conditions and don’t tell us if mildly sleep-deprived people, like a lot of Americans who get 5 or 6 hours of sleep a night, will gain weight,” St-Onge says.
To reflect real-world habits more closely, the researchers set out to examine the effects of chronic, mild sleep loss – a pattern estimated to affect around 30% of adults.
Six weeks of less sleep led to measurable changes
The study involved 95 adults who typically slept between seven and eight hours each night. During one six-week phase, participants delayed their usual bedtime by 90 minutes, which shortened their nightly sleep. During a separate six-week phase, they kept to their normal sleep schedule, allowing each participant to serve as their own comparison.
Across both phases, participants wore wrist monitors that tracked sleep and physical activity. The researchers also measured body weight, waist circumference, body composition, and fasting levels of several hormones involved in regulating appetite, building a detailed picture of how the body responded to the change.
“While the one-pound weight gain observed with modest sleep curtailment is not overwhelming, it is important to remember this is occurring over just six weeks,” says Faris Zuraikat, assistant professor of nutritional medicine in Columbia’s Department of Medicine and Institute for Human Nutrition and first author of the study. “Our study was designed to mimic sleep patterns that most adults experience chronically. When extrapolated to a full year, we would expect that losing less than an hour and a half of sleep per night could result in clinically meaningful weight gain.”
Less sleep also meant more sitting
Alongside the change in weight, the researchers found that participants became less active during the sleep-restriction phase. On average, sedentary time rose by 17 minutes per day. Among men and postmenopausal women, inactivity climbed by nearly 30 minutes each day.
Notably, this increase in sitting held up even after accounting for the extra waking hours that come with shorter sleep – so the added inactivity was not simply a matter of being awake for longer.
“Even when we accounted for the fact that they were awake longer when sleep was shortened, participants spent more time being inactive than when they got adequate sleep,” Zuraikat says. “This is notable, as people who are more sedentary have elevated risk for chronic diseases.”
Earlier research suggests broader health effects
The same group of participants has featured in several related studies, which together suggest that the consequences of mild sleep loss may extend well beyond weight. In one earlier investigation, women with increased cardiometabolic risk who reduced their sleep by about 80 minutes each night for six weeks developed greater insulin resistance – an important risk factor for type 2 diabetes. The effect was particularly pronounced in postmenopausal women.
A separate study found that men and women with an elevated risk of heart disease developed an influx of inflammatory cells in the heart after undergoing mild sleep restriction, hinting at a possible mechanism linking short sleep to cardiovascular harm.
“Though more research is needed to further understand how sleep restriction leads to weight gain, all of our findings suggest that insufficient sleep increases the risk of obesity-related conditions like type 2 diabetes and heart disease,” St-Onge says.
“Now we need to understand the health effects of improving sleep in those who fail to get adequate sleep on a regular basis.”
About the study
The study, titled “Skimping on Sleep and Its Impact on Body Weight and Composition: A Pooled Analysis of Randomized Trials,” was published on 6 July in Annals of Internal Medicine.
The authors are Faris Zuraikat, Samantha Scaccia, Justin Cochran, Bin Cheng, Keith Diaz, Seth Creasy (University of Colorado), Brooke Aggarwal, Sanja Jelic, and Marie-Pierre St-Onge. The authors report no conflicts of interest.
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Digital Health Tools Show Early Promise for Infant Feeding and Sleep, UMass Chan Research Finds
Key Takeaways:
- Families who completed three or more visits with the virtual feeding service SimpliFed provided breast milk for nearly 16 weeks longer than those who did not use it.
- Infants whose parents engaged most actively with the AI-powered sleep app Huckleberry slept around 90 minutes longer during their longest overnight stretch.
- Lower uptake among Spanish-speaking and publicly insured families underlines the need to make digital health support equitable rather than exclusionary.
Studying whether technology can support new parents
Researchers at UMass Chan Medical School are investigating whether digital tools for infant feeding, sleep and other early parenting challenges can improve health outcomes and widen access to support for families.
Among them is Nisha Fahey, DO, MSc’21, assistant professor of pediatrics and principal investigator on research examining how digital health interventions can support families during the critical first year of a child’s life. Dr Fahey has led two pilot studies evaluating virtual lactation support and an artificial intelligence–powered infant sleep application, carried out in collaboration with the Department of Medicine’s Program in Digital Medicine. That programme is led by Apurv Soni, MD, PhD’21, assistant professor of medicine and the programme’s co-director, who serves as multiprincipal investigator on the work.
As a paediatrician, Dr Fahey hears the same questions from new parents every day: Is my baby feeding enough? Are they sleeping enough? And where can I turn for help when I need it?
“These technologies already exist. Families are accessing them and using them,” said Fahey. “As researchers and healthcare providers, it’s our responsibility to understand their impact and think about how they can be integrated into healthcare in a way that is equitable and reaches all families.”
Virtual feeding support and longer breastfeeding
The first study examined SimpliFed, a virtual infant-feeding support platform that gives families on-demand access to certified lactation consultants and feeding specialists. Researchers enrolled 200 pregnant and postpartum individuals through UMass Memorial Health’s obstetrics clinics and followed them through the first year of their infant’s life.
The study assessed infant growth and development, maternal mental health, healthcare utilisation and feeding practices. Researchers found that participants who completed three or more visits with SimpliFed provided breast milk for nearly 16 weeks longer than participants who did not use the service.
The findings also drew attention to important equity considerations. Uptake was lower among Spanish-speaking families and among publicly insured participants, underscoring the need to ensure that digital health interventions reach populations that have historically faced barriers to care.
“If health systems are going to deploy these tools broadly, we need to pay special attention to making sure all patients and families can access them,” Fahey said. “The goal is to close gaps in care, not widen them.”
An AI sleep app and longer overnight rest
A second pilot study evaluated Huckleberry, a mobile app that allows parents to track infant sleep and uses artificial intelligence to predict optimal nap and bedtime schedules. This study was funded by an NIH grant focused on point-of-care technologies for heart, lung, blood and sleep disorders.
The study enrolled approximately 80 families with infants under 12 months who are beneficiaries of UMass Memorial’s MassHealth Accountable Care Organization. Participants used the app for three months while researchers tracked engagement and measured infant sleep, parental sleep and parental mental health.
Among families who engaged most actively with the app, infants experienced longer consolidated overnight sleep. Researchers found that infants in the high-engagement group slept approximately 90 minutes longer during their longest stretch of overnight sleep, compared with participants who used the app less frequently.
The researchers also found that families in a population often underrepresented in digital health research were willing and able to engage with the technology. About half of participants were classified as highly engaged users, and most reported that they found the app useful and would recommend it to other families.
Recognising the limitations
The studies also revealed some limitations. While many families reported positive experiences, others described challenges with tracking data consistently or navigating app features while caring for a young infant.
For Dr Fahey, those findings reinforce the importance of viewing digital health as a complement to, rather than a replacement of, traditional care.
“Digital technologies offer an on-demand pathway for information and support,” she said. “The goal is to make both digital and in-person care as accessible as possible and empower families to choose what works best for them.”
Building evidence for the future of care
The research was made possible through collaborations across UMass Chan, including faculty in the Program in Digital Medicine, the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Health, and the Department of Pediatrics.
“Parents are seeking out digital health apps on their own,” Fahey said. “Building evidence around their benefits and understanding their limitations helps us determine whether they can become trusted parts of care in the future.”
Source: UMass Chan Medical School
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Dietary Melatonin Intake Linked to Lower Rates of Obesity and Depression
Key Takeaways:
- Higher intake of melatonin from foods was associated with lower prevalence of obesity and depression in a large cohort of Brazilian university graduates.
- No significant associations were found between dietary melatonin intake and most cardiometabolic outcomes, including hypertension, metabolic syndrome or type 2 diabetes.
- The strongest associations were observed at moderate rather than very high levels of dietary melatonin intake, highlighting the complexity of diet–health relationships.
Background and study context
In a study published in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, researchers examined the melatonin content of commonly consumed foods and explored how dietary melatonin intake was associated with a range of health outcomes. The analysis used cross-sectional data from a large cohort of Brazilian university graduates.
Melatonin is a hormone best known for regulating circadian rhythms and sleep–wake cycles. Beyond its endogenous production, melatonin is also present in both animal-based and plant-based foods. Experimental, observational and supplementation studies have linked melatonin to sleep regulation, mood, and metabolic health. Although the concentration of melatonin in foods is considerably lower than in supplements, diets rich in melatonin-containing foods have been shown to increase circulating melatonin levels within physiological ranges.
Previous evidence suggests that increasing melatonin intake through food may deliver doses that align more closely with natural circadian rhythms than pharmacological supplementation, potentially avoiding suprapharmacological exposure. On this basis, dietary melatonin has attracted interest as a marker of broader dietary patterns rather than as a direct therapeutic intervention.
Rationale for examining dietary melatonin
Obesity, depression and sleep disorders represent a substantial and growing public health burden. Prior observational and experimental studies have suggested that melatonin may have protective effects against inflammatory, metabolic and neurobehavioural outcomes. In addition, observational research has reported inverse associations between melatonin exposure and outcomes such as liver cancer incidence and all-cause mortality.
Despite this, relatively few studies have investigated habitual dietary melatonin intake or its associations with chronic conditions in adult populations. The present study aimed to address this gap by estimating melatonin intake from the diet and examining its relationship with multiple health outcomes in a large cohort.
Study design and population
The analysis drew on data from the Cohort of Universities of Minas Gerais (CUME+) study. CUME+ is an open, prospective cohort designed to assess the impact of dietary patterns and nutrition transition on noncommunicable diseases.
At baseline, participants completed a questionnaire administered in two parts. The first part collected information on sociodemographic characteristics, clinical history, lifestyle factors, anthropometric measures and self-reported morbidity.
Dietary assessment and estimation of melatonin intake
The second part of the baseline assessment included a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), alongside questions on dietary habits, supplement use and cooking practices. Nutrient intake was estimated using established food composition tables.
Dietary melatonin content was estimated based on values reported in the scientific literature for individual food items. These estimates were then adjusted for total energy intake to account for differences in overall food consumption between participants.
Health outcomes and definitions
The health outcomes assessed in the study included obesity, obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), hypertension, metabolic syndrome (MetS), type 2 diabetes (T2D), sleep duration, dyslipidaemia and depression.
Obesity was defined as a body mass index of 30 kg/m² or higher. Depression and OSA were identified based on self-reported medical diagnoses.
Dyslipidaemia was defined as the presence of at least one abnormal lipid parameter, including total cholesterol of 200 mg/dL or higher, triglycerides of 150 mg/dL or higher, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol below 40 mg/dL for males or below 50 mg/dL for females, or low-density lipoprotein cholesterol of 130 mg/dL or higher.
Cardiometabolic criteria
Metabolic syndrome was defined as central obesity plus any two of the following criteria: elevated triglycerides or treatment for hypertriglyceridaemia, reduced high-density lipoprotein cholesterol or treatment, elevated blood pressure or treatment for hypertension, and elevated fasting plasma glucose or a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes.
Hypertension was defined by the use of antihypertensive medication, a physician diagnosis, systolic blood pressure of 140 mmHg or higher, or diastolic blood pressure of 90 mmHg or higher. Type 2 diabetes was defined as a self-reported or physician diagnosis, use of antidiabetic medication, or fasting plasma glucose of 126 mg/dL or higher.
Sleep duration was categorised as short if participants reported sleeping less than seven hours per day, and normal if they reported seven hours or more per day.
Statistical analysis
Associations between dietary melatonin intake and health outcomes were estimated using logistic and Poisson regression models. Analyses were adjusted for a wide range of potential confounders, including age, sex, family income, binge drinking, smoking status, screen time, physical activity, medication use and sleep duration.
Participant characteristics
The final analysis included 8,320 participants with a mean age of 35.9 years. Most participants were female and reported that they did not smoke. Around one third of the cohort reported short sleep duration.
Dyslipidaemia, depression, obesity and hypertension were the most commonly reported health conditions within the study population.
Melatonin content of foods and dietary sources
Melatonin content was estimated for 119 of the 144 food items included in the FFQ. Reported concentrations ranged from 0 to 169.9 ng per gram of food. Mean daily melatonin intake was estimated at 25,554.7 ng and was significantly higher in males than in females.
The main dietary sources of melatonin in this population were coffee, lentils and beans, and rice. Higher melatonin intake was associated with lower intake of protein, cholesterol, and saturated and monounsaturated fats, alongside higher intake of fibre and carbohydrates. These patterns suggest that dietary melatonin intake may reflect broader differences in dietary composition.
Associations with health outcomes
After full adjustment, no significant associations were observed between dietary melatonin intake and obstructive sleep apnoea, hypertension, metabolic syndrome or type 2 diabetes. Initial associations with sleep duration and dyslipidaemia were attenuated after adjustment for age and sex and did not remain statistically significant.
In contrast, dietary melatonin intake showed an inverse association with both obesity and depression. Participants with daily melatonin intakes between approximately 14,900 and 34,400 ng were less likely to have obesity, while intakes between approximately 14,900 and 25,000 ng were associated with a lower likelihood of depression.
Notably, the strongest associations were observed in intermediate intake quintiles rather than among those with the highest melatonin intake, suggesting a non-linear relationship.
Conclusions and implications
In this cohort of Brazilian university graduates, higher dietary melatonin intake was associated with lower prevalence of obesity and depression, while no significant associations were identified for most other cardiometabolic outcomes or sleep duration.
The findings support existing hypotheses that dietary melatonin may play a role in metabolic and neurobehavioural regulation, potentially through anti-inflammatory pathways. However, the cross-sectional design of the study means that causal relationships cannot be established.
Further longitudinal and experimental research is needed to confirm these associations, determine whether dietary melatonin has an independent effect beyond overall dietary patterns, and clarify the biological mechanisms that may underlie the observed relationships.
CCH insights:
This is an interesting study, but it is difficult to see where this research leads to. If a person is suspected of having obesity, depression or some other condition due to a lack of melatonin, the solution is surely likely to be supplementation of melatonin, not an increase in melatonin-rich foods – because dietary changes are notoriously difficult to adhere to and when we are looking at just one nutrient, supplementation is a much easier option.
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Digital Health Tools Offer Scalable Solutions for Early Childhood Sleep Challenges
Key Takeaways:
- Digital sleep interventions demonstrate meaningful improvements in sleep outcomes for young children, with high levels of parental engagement across diverse formats.
- Parents also benefit, with several studies reporting reduced stress and improved sleep quality alongside improvements in their children’s sleep.
- While early results are promising, gaps remain in long-term evidence, objective sleep measurement and inclusion of families from minority and low-resource communities.
Digital health and early childhood sleep
A new scoping review led by researchers at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine highlights the growing role of digital tools in helping parents support healthier sleep in early childhood. The review was spearheaded by Azizi Seixas, PhD, and Girardin Jean-Louis, PhD, and describes strong parental engagement, meaningful improvements in sleep outcomes and emerging best practices for future innovation in paediatric sleep health.
Sleep problems in young children, ranging from bedtime resistance and frequent night wakings to obstructive sleep apnoea, are closely linked to multiple aspects of development. Persistent sleep disturbances beyond infancy have been associated with challenges in school readiness, mood regulation and long-term health outcomes. Against this backdrop, the rapid expansion of mobile apps, telehealth services and online learning platforms has positioned digital health as a potentially powerful avenue for supporting families navigating sleep difficulties.
“This study fills an important gap in the pediatric sleep literature by showing how digital tools can capture real-world sleep behaviors at scale,” said Dr Seixas. “From a public health standpoint, these technologies help us identify population-level patterns earlier, especially in communities where sleep problems often go unrecognized. Clinically, they give providers objective, continuous data that can guide more personalized and timely interventions, ultimately improving outcomes for children who need support the most.”
A global review of digital sleep interventions
Dr Seixas, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioural sciences, director of The Media and Innovation Lab, associate director of the Center for Translational Sleep and Circadian Sciences and interim chair of the Department of Informatics and Health Data Science at the Miller School, and Dr Jean-Louis, professor of psychiatry and behavioural sciences and neurology and director of the Center for Translational Sleep and Circadian Sciences, led an extensive scoping review of the scientific literature.
The research team screened more than 2,100 articles published from database inception through April 2025 across multiple academic sources. Following rigorous screening, 21 studies met the final inclusion criteria.
Collectively, these studies involved thousands of parents, dozens of healthcare professionals and nearly 500 parent-child dyads who participated in digital sleep intervention trials. The breadth of study designs and populations provided a wide-ranging view of how digital approaches are being applied in early childhood sleep support.
Types of digital tools evaluated
The review encompassed a diverse range of digital sleep interventions, including:
- Mobile applications designed to guide bedtime routines and monitor sleep behaviours
- Web-based educational modules for parents
- Telehealth programmes offering remote coaching and behavioural guidance
- Social media-enhanced parent support groups
- Wearable devices and data dashboards used for sleep tracking
- Robotic or kiosk-based sleep education tools
Across all formats, parental engagement emerged as a consistent strength. Most interventions focused on equipping parents with practical strategies to implement at home, often grounded in cognitive-behavioural therapy for insomnia or other evidence-based behavioural approaches.
Improvements in sleep outcomes for children and parents
A majority of the digital interventions reviewed were associated with improvements in at least one clinical sleep outcome for children. In many cases, benefits extended beyond the child to parents and caregivers.
Reported improvements for children included:
- Longer total sleep duration, documented in six studies
- Fewer night wakings
- Shorter sleep onset latency, defined as the time taken to fall asleep
- Improved sleep efficiency
- Reduced early-morning awakenings
- Improved breathing-related symptoms, including snoring detection through mobile tools
Several studies also reported positive effects on parental wellbeing, including reduced stress levels and improvements in parental sleep quality. One mobile application, Dr Lullaby, was associated with a significant reduction in the need for parents to remain in the room while their child fell asleep, suggesting improved sleep independence.
Telehealth and neurodevelopmental conditions
Telehealth interventions were particularly valuable for families of children with autism spectrum disorder. In randomised controlled trials, parents who received remote coaching on behavioural sleep strategies reported significant improvements in their children’s sleep by weeks five and ten of the intervention. These benefits were sustained at 16-week follow-up, indicating potential durability of effect.
Web-based educational programmes also demonstrated value. Online modules such as Mini-KiSS and the SKIP asthma-sleep intervention supported parents in establishing healthier bedtime routines and reducing night-time disruptions. These programmes consistently received high ratings for usability and acceptability among participating families.
The role of social support
The review highlighted the added value of social connection within digital interventions. In one study, an online healthy-lifestyle programme for young children showed no measurable sleep improvements until researchers introduced a closed Facebook group for parents. The addition of peer support facilitated shared problem-solving and encouragement, leading to significant gains in children’s sleep duration.
Gaps and priorities for future research
Despite the encouraging findings, the review identified several important limitations in the current evidence base:
- Approximately half of the studies involved predominantly white families, despite evidence that sleep problems disproportionately affect children from minority backgrounds.
- Most studies focused on short-term outcomes, with limited data on long-term effectiveness.
- Wearable devices were underused as objective measures of sleep.
- Children with chronic health conditions were underrepresented, even though early evidence suggests tailored digital interventions may be particularly effective for these groups.
Implications for clinical care and global paediatric health
Digital sleep health tools are becoming increasingly accessible, engaging and aligned with how families use technology in everyday life. This review suggests that when these tools are thoughtfully designed and grounded in behavioural science, they can meaningfully improve sleep outcomes for young children while also supporting parental wellbeing.
For clinicians, digital interventions may function as scalable extensions of care, offering education, behaviour tracking and reinforcement of healthy nightly routines. For researchers and developers, the next challenge lies in ensuring these tools are inclusive and reach families who may benefit most, particularly those in minority or low-resource communities.
The authors conclude that digital paediatric sleep interventions “show promise to educate parents and improve sleep outcomes in their child, extending benefits to the whole family.” With targeted innovation and equitable implementation, digital sleep solutions could become an integral component of paediatric care worldwide.
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