BOULDER, Colo., Jan. 5 (UPI) — U.S. researchers calculate the “metabolic cost” of an adult missing a night’s sleep as the equivalent of walking a little less than 2 miles.
Researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder, led by Kenneth Wright, found people expend more energy when awake in bed than when sleeping. Eight hours of sleep saved roughly 135 calories over eight hours of wakefulness.
“While the amount of energy savings for humans during sleep may seem relatively small, it actually was a little more than we expected,” Wright said in a statement.
The study, published in the Journal of Physiology, found study subjects expended 7 percent more energy during 24 hours of sleep vs. energy used during a typical night’s sleep.
Energy expenditure decreased by about 5 percent during the recovery episode, which included 16 hours of wakefulness following the sleep deprivation night, and then 8 hours of recovery sleep. The most energy was expended during natural arousals from sleep — which occurred less often during the 8-hour sleep episodes following sleep deprivation.
“Understanding the function of sleep, especially in humans, is considered one of the most important scientific enigmas,” Wright said.
Wright and colleagues had seven young adult subjects stay in bed for the entire, tightly controlled three-day study.
Well I’m NOT too worried aobut how much sleep I got last night. I went to bed a little later than normal 22:22, I needed to unwind after UNO’s basketball team(s)won both games. A good night.