Scientists are saying body mass index (BMI) is consistently linked to length and quality of sleep, opening a potential avenue of research into using sleep regulation to maintain a healthy body weight.

Researchers, who were part of the Integrative Cardiac Health Project at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, analyzed the sleep, activity and energy expenditures of 14 nurses employed at the hospital who volunteered for the experiment.

“When we analyzed our data … we found that short sleepers tended to have a higher BMI, 28.3 kg/m2, compared to long sleepers, who had an average BMI of 24.5,” says lead investigator Dr Arn Eliasson.

“Short sleepers also had lower sleep efficiency, experienced as greater difficulty getting to sleep and staying asleep,” he adds.

Interestingly, the study revealed overweight individuals tended to be more active than their normal weight counterparts and expended nearly 1,000 more calories a day, but those additional energy expenditures did not lead to reduced weight.

The researchers suspect getting less sleep might disrupt hormonal balance by reducing the amount of leptin, or the satiety hormone, and could cause individuals to eat more.

Stress may also play a role in both reducing the length and quality of sleep and increasing eating that may result in weight gain.

For those who would like to reduce their stress levels and improve sleep quality there are many natural health resources to choose from, such as nutritional supplements, massages, yoga, acupuncture and physical exercise.