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Medicine Science

Poor Sleep Alters Metabolism and Boosts Body's Ability To Store Fat, Study Finds (theguardian.com) 233

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: The latest study provides new evidence that sleep deprivation has a direct influence on basic metabolism and the body's balance between fat and muscle mass. In the study, published in the journal Science Advances, 15 healthy volunteers each attended a testing session on two occasions, once after a normal night's sleep and once after staying up all night. During the visit, they gave samples of fat and muscle tissue and blood. After sleep deprivation, people's fat tissue showed changes in gene activity that are linked to cells increasing their tendency to absorb lipids and also to proliferate.

By contrast, in muscle the scientists saw reduced levels of structural proteins, which are the building blocks the body requires to maintain and build muscle mass. Previous epidemiological studies have also found shift workers and those who sleep less have lower muscle mass. This may be in part down to lifestyle factors, but the latest work shows that there are also fundamental biological mechanisms at play. The study also found an increase in inflammation in the body after sleep deprivation, which is a known risk factor for type 2 diabetes.

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Poor Sleep Alters Metabolism and Boosts Body's Ability To Store Fat, Study Finds

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  • by Mal-2 ( 675116 ) on Wednesday August 22, 2018 @10:46PM (#57178246) Homepage Journal

    Sleep deprivation is a source of chronic stress at a basic level. It's not all that surprising that it causes neurological effects, but ALSO systemic stress-related effects.

  • by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Wednesday August 22, 2018 @10:53PM (#57178258)
    more and more we're finding that people's failings aren't their own. That a variety of physical ailments have broad, cascading effects on every aspect of human life. We figured out that underfed women give birth to babies with reduced mental capacity. That poverty and stress impact rational behavior and decision making. That people sleep less as they age due to hormonal changes and now that lack of sleep leads to weight gain (gut bacteria play a big role too).

    As long as I've been alive one of the central narratives in my life has been that people who fail at life did so because they lack good moral character. It's been pretty well pounded into my skull. Sometimes overtly ( "Welfare Queens" and folks convinced panhandlers are making a kililng ) and sometimes less so ("You can be do anything if you put your mind to it!" and "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps!").

    Science is challenging that. There really are "born losers". Folks for whom nothing ever seems to go right because it doesn't. Moreover life really does kick you when you're down.

    What I'm wondering is if we're going to change anything in response. I don't expect the public at large to. But, well, /. is a science focused forum. And the science is pretty clear here. So are we going to start seeing a change of mind? And are we going to see folks acting on that?

    I'm not so sure. Yeah, this is a science oriented forum, but it's also a forum with an aging population. And as people get older they get more conservative. Less emphatic. Funny that; I read somewhere science has found that the part of your brain associated with empathy atrophies in old age...
    • by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 22, 2018 @11:24PM (#57178328)

      It is *also* true that certain character flaws will lead to one being a failure. People who refuse to take responsibility and self-motivate are never going to achieve as much.

      So, a fat person may be fat because of their combination of metabolism and gut bacteria and so on. Such that when they eat a normal and reasonable amount of food, and even get some exercise, they stay fat. That happens. But it *also* happens that some people just over-indulge in unhealthy food and they don't exercise at all.

      And further, in the former case, the person is not doomed. If the person is truly motivated, they can bust their ass, eat super-healthy, and even do things like get a fecal transplant to favor the correct gut bacteria, and make significant improvement. The temptation is to point at the science and throw up one's hands in defeat, using it as an enabler of continued bad behavior.

      This doesn't mean that wisdom and morality will fix one's problems. Depending on details, it is simply not enough. But neither is the opposite extreme true. Personal problems are still very heavily influenced by one's character, and the need for personal responsibility is still present.

      What really hurts me is that huge numbers of people, most people, in fact, are born into poverty. The hand they are dealt is bad from the get-go. Even if they somehow manage to be brilliant saints, the sheer lack of economic opportunity keeps them trapped forever. It is unfair, and it is the most common case. I support poverty-fighting charities but there is only so much that can be done. Poverty *sucks,* and I consider it to be the greatest evil that flourishes within our species (though it is not unique to us, of course).

      Maybe, someday, we will find a better way. It hurts me that the current state is still the best we can do.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        the person is not doomed. If the person is truly motivated, they can bust their ass, eat super-healthy, and even do things like get a fecal transplant to favor the correct gut bacteria, and make significant improvement.

        Is that realistic though? If they have to work full time, which not only takes up a lot of time and energy but requires them to not be super tired for months or years on end, is this super healthy diet and exercise regime a realistic option? That is assuming it even worked, which it doesn't...

        Fecal transplant is very promising but not widely available and typically not available on socialised healthcare or insurance plans.

        A friend of mine is getting a gastric sleeve fitted today, funnily enough, which is an

        • Avoiding to get fat is easy.
          Getting down being slim is super hard.
          It is easier to "cure" anyone from a drug addiction (regardless wich) than helping him to lose weight and after losing it staying on that level.
          The amount of calories a human needs per day is ridiculous low in relation how easy you can intake them in our modern eating habits (emphasized by wrong died advices, artificial sweeteners, low fat yoghourts, corn sirup added into everything, hormones in meat etc.)

      • It is *also* true that certain character flaws will lead to one being a failure.... So, a fat person may be fat because of their combination of metabolism and gut bacteria and so on. Such that when they eat a normal and reasonable amount of food, and even get some exercise, they stay fat. That happens. But it *also* happens that some people just over-indulge in unhealthy food and they don't exercise at all.

        I think that it's unfortunately more complicated than that.

        Because first, if people are just indulging, it raises the question, why are they indulging? If it's just a character flaw, why do they have that character flaw? Really, there are only a few possibilities.

        One is biology. Whether it's genetic or developmental, biology can contribute in all kinds of way. Maybe they're indulging because their brain chemistry at that moment is disposing them toward impulsive or self-gratifying actions. Or it coul

      • People who refuse to take responsibility and self-motivate are never going to achieve as much.

        Really? Can you show me one failure that Donald Trump has taken responsibility for? He is constantly finding other people to blame. Even more so he constantly finds things to take credit for that are not significantly of his own doing.

    • I'm going to go out on a limb and say that no, scientific evidence isn't going to change any significant number of minds. I've got a circadian rhythm disorder that doesn't respond to treatment, and though the disorder/syndrome is considered a disability (in the US) there aren't many who'll employ a programmer who arises at noon each day because he must.

      Which is odd, because DSPD/DSPS is more common among those of higher IQ. So it goes.

      FWIW, the older I get, the more accepting/tolerant/liberal I get.

    • by tsa ( 15680 ) on Thursday August 23, 2018 @12:22AM (#57178456) Homepage

      Already in the 19th century a distinction was made between people who would not work and people who could not work; the deserving and the undeserving poor. Read Mayhew's brilliant London Labour and the London Poor.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by grasshoppa ( 657393 )

      Science is challenging that. There really are "born losers".

      That's not my take. My take is that everyone has their own "challenges". My personal demons are stress eating ( drinking ), and as a result I'm a bit of a porker. I don't blame my genetics for that. I don't blame my employer for that, nor do I blame my family for it. *I* choose to eat and drink when I really shouldn't. I choose to stay up later than I should ( for some fucking peace and quiet. Just 30 minutes of it ). That's me. Were my ph

    • I can't speak for anyone else. I was born with certain congenital heart problems. To deal with that, I've focused on exercise and health, and will certainly live longer than most of my ancestors. As for mental problems, I didn't want to exercise. Who does? Sure I had the intention, but after work I would just go home and sit on the couch. Finally I made a plan to exercise a little each day, and standing up once and sitting back down was enough to count as exercise. That was enough for my peculiar mental sta
    • I'm not so sure. Yeah, this is a science oriented forum, but it's also a forum with an aging population. And as people get older they get more conservative. Less emphatic. Funny that; I read somewhere science has found that the part of your brain associated with empathy atrophies in old age...

      You make good points, but I believe that empathy is like a muscle. The more you use it, the longer it stays active. There are few things in life that will rejuvenate the mind and body and renew the spirit like going

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        This is why we have so much sympathy for unemployed steel workers...oh wait we don't. We engage in ugly, classist bigotry in a regular basis and get modded up to +5 for it. So much for tolerance for the outgroup!
        • by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Thursday August 23, 2018 @08:37AM (#57179722) Homepage Journal

          This is why we have so much sympathy for unemployed steel workers...

          We do. What we don't have is sympathy for people who are willfully ignorant. If you're sitting at a computer with access to the interwebs and you choose to use it to complain about how furriners terk your jerb instead of educating yourself about where them jerbs actually went, and someone explains the situation to you and you still don't change your ways, then there's no time to coddle you. It's time to move on to someone whose mind is not yet welded shut.

          • a computer, much less know how to use them. If they have a smart phone it's because they needed a cell and that's what the guy at the shop gave them. Some folks are just at their limits. It doesn't help that they're continuously fed a stream of misinformation in order to exploit them for votes.

            And, well, furriners did take a lot of jobs. Outsourcing is a thing and it's eroded the manufacturing base. If you're a blue collar guy you lost a lot of construction work to Mexicans here illegally. Same as white
            • And, well, furriners did take a lot of jobs. [...]
              Moreover there's almost no attempt to discuss the real job killer: automation. In 40 years America has doubled it's manufacturing output while decreasing the number of jobs by 2/3rds

              You could not have supported my point more enthusiastically if you tried. The real job killer is automation, and talking about foreigners taking jobs is a bad joke when those jobs were deliberately given to foreigners by the "job creators" in order to save money and/or to secure employees who could be abused.

            • The thing is, "furriners" *didn't* take a lot of jobs. American companies did. The wealthy did. They automated processes. They outsourced to other countries so that they could lower the labour cost but still charge the same amount, maximizing their profits. So they could maximize their personal bank accounts at everyone else's expense.

              But the American public has been brainwashed into looking for a convenient scapegoat like "foreigners" or "illegal aliens", and the companies that are actually at fault a

    • by Kokuyo ( 549451 )

      I know exactly where you're coming from. You have no idea how long I've battled with myself to accept that no, I'm not just lazy... I actually do seem to have less energy at my disposal as some other people and the fact that I am where I am is actually not a detriment because I could have done so much more if I had just applied myself...

      No, it's a damn miracle I am this functional despite it all.

      It also changed, more often than before, how I look at people that fail. I've become much more forgiving and less

    • by zmooc ( 33175 )

      What you have learned may not be as universal as you expect it to be. A quick glance at countries like the nordics indicates that in those countries, even at the lawmaking level, it is clear what you just learned :p

    • It's more comfortable to imagine that other people's failings and problems are due to their agency, because it means you can avoid them. If I eat vegetables every day I won't get cancer like that sucker! Also, since it is his fault, he doesn't deserve my help! We also blame our own failings on contingency, so when we do get cancer it was because of unavoidable stray gamma rays and not from drinking ourselves to sleep with plastic jug vodka every day.
    • That people sleep less as they age due to hormonal changes and now that lack of sleep leads to weight gain (gut bacteria play a big role too).

      That's not really what it found. What it found was that it changes the metabolic pathways to prefer the formation of fat tissue and retard the formation of muscle mass, so it will change the ratio between lean and fat body mass. Of course, this muscle consumes more energy than fat does, so this will end up decreasing the energy you burn, which will promote weight gain unless you change your diet.

      But here's the thing: you can fix both those problems. Exercise will promote the formation of muscle mass, eatin

    • I consider staying up late, and not planning sufficient time to sleep, to be a moral failing. This sounds like science backing that up. Poor decisions have more than just one negative consequence.
    • If you want changes and a better future for your kids and grand kids, move to a place that has those problems more checked.
      The USA is probably a lost case ... I doubt I/we will see any improvements in the many problems during my remaining lifetime (~40 years). It probably will end up somewhere between Russia and Venezuela in terms of quality of life and human rights issues.

    • by epine ( 68316 )

      It's been pretty well pounded into my skull.

      Well then, you've been paying undue attention to those who came out on top, because it's not being pounded into your skull by any of the rest of us.

      Do I smell envy? Or is that just burnt toast?

  • "Fat: people do not get fat by eating it, they get fat by not being able to burn it. And, that is 100% controlled by hormones, leptin & insulin." @DrRosedale http://bit.ly/2h0Xmg1 [bit.ly]

    "...the mobilization of fat from adipose tissue is inhibited by numerous stimuli. The most significant inhibition is that exerted upon adenylate cyclase by insulin." @medicalbiochem http://bit.ly/2LiPkNE [bit.ly]

    "The underlying theme of the glucose-fatty acid cycle is that the utilization of one nutrient (e.g. glucose) directly inhibi

  • Eat right, Excercise and DIE ANYWAY!

  • Poor sleep - all the calls and texts from your bosses are disturbing your sleep habits, interfering with your life *outside* work, leaving you stressed out while you do sleep.

    Tell your bosses that you can't answer after hours, because it's making you fat. (And how fat are your bosses, anyway?)

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