Exercise for permanent weight loss (part 2)
In last week’s article we saw that exercise not only burns calories, but curbs false appetite resulting from boredom, depression, stress or habit while enhancing true appetite resulting from hunger. Exercise also has profound effects on sleep and depression, which in turn have a profound effect on weight.
Exercise and Sleep
Exercise improves the quantity and quality of sleep. In a 1997 trial at Stanford University, people with moderate insomnia fell asleep twice as fast, slept an hour longer each night, and woke up feeling more refreshed once they began going for brisk walks. What does sleep have to do with weight? Quite a bit. According to a study published in the year 2000 in the Lancet, a prestigious British medical journal, sleep deprivation can cause weight gain. Researchers found that people deprived of sleep showed drastic change in metabolic and hormonal functioning, resulting in added pounds. Weight loss researcher Sue Ellin Browder came to the same conclusion in her book, The Power: 11 Ways Women Gain Unhealthy Weight and How You Can Take Charge of Them. She claims that bad sleepers eat over 15 percent more than good sleepers because when people are tired, they often eat in an effort to boost energy levels.
The National Weight Control Registry
Evidence that exercise works for weight loss and weight loss maintenance can be found in The National Weight Control Registry, a list of people who have lost at least 30 pounds and have maintained that loss for at least one year. Participants in the study lost an average of over 60 pounds and maintained the minimum loss of 30 pounds for an average of 5.5 years. An ongoing study of these men and women began in 1993, and the first report of the study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 1997. Among the conclusions – 90 percent of the people listed in the registry exercise regularly. By burning extra calories, exercise helps to compensate for the metabolic drop that usually accompanies weight loss.
Of the registry enrollees who exercise, most simply walk. They walk about 45 minutes to an hour a day. No definitive study has established how many minutes of walking a day is enough to lose weight and keep it off, but the common sense consensus among weight loss researchers is that it takes a minimum of 45 minutes to an hour a day to do the job. So the registry members are right on target.
Exercise and Depression
Numerous studies have confirmed the efficacy of exercise in reducing anxiety and stress and elevating mood. One of these, published in March of 2001 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, found that walking could begin reducing symptoms of depression faster than many drugs. In 12 people suffering from moderate to severe depression, symptoms dropped by about a third after only 10 days of exercise. Five of the patients saw their scores fall by 50 percent. The researchers noted that aerobic exercise appeared to work faster than most antidepressant drugs, which generally take two to four weeks to take effect, and therefore that aerobic exercise could be a viable alternative to prescriptive medication.
The connection to weight control? Depression is often a cause of overeating. Many thin people can’t eat when under stress. Most compulsive overeaters can’t stop. A common side effect of antidepressant drugs is weight gain. A common side effect of exercise is longevity. Strenuous physical activity throughout the course of life is a common characteristic of centenarians.
So if a long, happy, and slim life is your goal, walking is a step in the right direction.
Mary Lou Williams, M. Ed., is a lecturer and writer in the field of nutrition. She welcomes inquiries. She can be reached at 267-6480.