Sleeping Your Way to Fat

We’ve all heard getting a good night’s sleep increases weight loss, but Doc Gurley, in her San Francisco Chronicle blog, says being in hibernation mode may be making us fat. She explains the theory, which is based on essential fatty acids (EFAs).  In the Western diet, most get too many omega-6 EFA sand not enough omega-3s. Omega-6s occur naturally in “fall-harvest foods,” as she calls them, such as, corn oils, grains, soybean and cottonseed oils; whereas omega-3s come from “spring” foods like leafy greens, flax seeds and fish. The theory says we are constantly preparing ourselves for winter and hibernation by eating too many omega-6s.

Gurley adds vitamin D to the mix by saying we don’t spend enough time in the sun absorbing its vitamin D goodness, which gives us another year-round signal that it’s time to hibernate.

She says the way to change this trend is to change the diet by eating less omega-6s and more omega-3s, and get enough vitamin D.

I am all for telling people to eat better and get more vitamin D, but I can’t say I’m behind this hibernation theory. As one blog commenter wrote after her post, none of our close animal relatives hibernate, so why would we base a theory on a routine we don’t practice? Maybe it’s just the word “hibernate” I’m against in this theory.  Our ancestors faced food shortages in the winter and thus, our bodies were made to hold on to excess fat. So many the lack of omega-3s and vitamin D is signaling that it’s time to get ready for a famine, but not to actually sleep. Whatever the biological reasons, not getting enough omega-s or vitamin D is bad for us. Therefore, I am sticking to my daily morning omega-3 supplement and vitamin D pill.