MARLBOROUGH, MA - JANUARY 20: Jake Giacopelli of the Long Island Gulls hockey team sleeps in a bed during a roadtrip on January 20, 2007 in Marlborough, Massachussets. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Jake Giacopelli(credit: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
ATLANTA (WAOK) – Getting a little extra shut-eye may be the best weapon in the battle of the bulge.
A study in the journal “Sleep” suggests that getting more than nine hours of sleep a night can suppress genetic influences that lead to weight gain.
Researchers analyzed more than one-thousand pairs of identical twins, with one twin sleeping more than nine hours a night and the other sleeping less than seven.
They found genetic influences accounted for as much as 70-percent of body weight differences in those who got less than seven hours of sleep per night.
