Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/-EFYrk5NLnM If you love falling asleep with the TV treating you to Law and Order or if you merely leave a light on in the room, you’d better watch that scale.    The NIH’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences studied nearly 44,000 women in the so-called Sister Study of women’s disease.  The researchers questioned the participants about their sleeping habits and compiled physical data including weight at the onset of the study and again 5 years later.   Women who slept with the TV going or a room light on were 17% more likely to gain 11 pounds over the 5 years compared with those who slept in a dark room or at most had a small nightlight burning.  The weight gain was not associated with the reported quality of the participant’ s sleep. The investigators suspect that disruption of the natural day-night cycle or circadian rhythm may be the culprit.  If you must fall asleep to the TV or with a light, use a sleep timer. Yong-Moon Mark Park, Alexandra J. White, Chandra L. J