Health Research

Feb 26 2008

Postpartum Sleep Deprivation, Weight Gain Discussed in Podcast

Mothers who reported sleeping five hours or less per day when their babies were six months old had a threefold higher risk of substantial weight retention, according to a study by Kaiser Permanente and Harvard Medical School/Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. Erica P. Gunderson, Ph.D., a Kaiser Permanente research epidemiologist, talked about the study and the topic in this podcast.

The study was published in the November issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology . It's believed to be the first study that looked at the impact of sleep deprivation on mothers' weight gain. The study suggested that getting enough sleep may be just as important as diet and exercise in a mother's ability to return to her pre-pregnancy weight.

The study also found that mothers who slept fewer hours at one year postpartum than they did at six months postpartum had twice the risk of substantial weight retention.

Gunderson, lead author for the study, is a research epidemiologist at Kaiser Permanente's Division of Research in Oakland, Calif.

For more, listen to this Kaiser Permanente podcast. You also can read the original press release about the study.