Is Your Body Clock Making You Pile on the Pounds?

If you’ve been sticking to a strict diet and being very saintly when it comes to exercising but you’re still failing to lose those extra few pounds, then you might want to have a look at your body clock.

Why? Well scientists believe that disruption to our sleeping and eating routine can actually make us pile on the pounds.

Dr Cathy Wyse, from the University of Aberdeen, says that sleeping and eating at regular times (and making sure that you sleep in total darkness) can help you to stay slim.

“Electric light allowed humans to override an ancient synchronisation between the rhythm of the human clock and the environment. Over the last century, daily rhythms in meal, sleep and working times have gradually disappeared from our lives,” she said.

“The human clock struggles to remain tuned to our highly irregular lifestyles and I believe this causes metabolic and other health problems, and makes us more likely to become obese,” she added.

So basically, by working crazy hours, skipping meals and sleeping with the television on isn’t exactly doing us any favours in the weight-loss department. It’s actually causing us to consume more calories on a daily basis.

Is your schedule playing havoc with your weight?

In her paper, which is published in Biology Essays, Dr Wyse said that previous research on mice has shown that messing with the body’s natural clock causes changes to genes in the liver, which help to control the breakdown of fat and sugar.

When the normal patterns and routines of the mice were interrupted, the animals gained weight.

“The circadian rhythm is important in regulating metabolism, more important than we suspected it was,” said Dr Wyse.

“If there’s one thing that’s certain about obesity, it’s a complex mix of how we live, what we eat, when we sleep and what we do for work,” she added.

Do you have set mealtimes or are you a person who just grabs what they can on the go?