Global Courant 2023-05-18 04:12:58
For members of the Canadian military, who often have tight schedules and demanding physical tasks, a lack of sleep is linked to obesity – especially in men – according to a study. new study of Statistics Canada.
Despite sleep being one of the components of the Canadian Armed Forces Physical Performance Strategy, sleep problems are common among military personnel, according to the study.
To determine how sleep affects obesity in military members, researchers used facts from the 2019 Canadian Forces Health Survey.
Survey respondents were asked questions about sleep, including how often they have trouble falling or staying asleep, how often they wake up feeling refreshed, and how often it’s a challenge to stay awake when they want to.
The researchers also categorized the respondents based on variables such as age, job characteristics, including level of employment, and health factors such as stress and physical activity.
Based on the data, the study found that women were much more likely to sleep for the recommended amount of time (seven to 10 hours), but they were more likely to report problems falling or staying asleep and poorer sleep quality.
Research showed that obesity was much more apparent for those who slept less than six hours or poorly. This was especially true for men: 40.4 percent of them reported getting enough hours of sleep, compared to about 48.7 percent of women.
Study authors say more research is needed to explore gender differences based on their findings.
Getting enough sleep can improve people’s mood, cognitive function and productivity — in the context of the military, sleep can impact areas such as readiness for deployment, physical training and testing, according to the study.
On the other hand, not getting enough sleep may affect obesity through hormonal and food-related behavioral changes. Study authors say sleeping less may lead to eating more due to biological or hormonal effects of fatigue, potentially leading to obesity.
Obesity can cause a number of chronic conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, asthma, back pain, osteoarthritis and gallbladder disease.
