New Study Suggests Lack Of Sleep During Pregnancy Can Cause Weight Gain

A new study suggests that sleep duration for pregnant women are connected to their gestational weight gain. Researchers behind this study have not officially presented their findings regarding this matter, but they are scheduled to do that on Feb. 4.

Based on their experiment and observation, the sleeping habits of pregnant women could be the cause of their weight gain, which could eventually lead to obesity. It is the researchers' goal to know the connection of the length of sleep and how come pregnant women gain their weight whenever they lack enough sleep.

The researchers used 751 first time mothers and they were asked to wear a device called an "actigraph," which will help record their sleep cycles for seven days straight. The study did not include pregnant women with diabetes and chronic hypertension.

Eureka Alert published the result based on the data collected by these researchers and it all came down to the fact that the length of sleep of a pregnant woman is linked to gestational weight gain.

Franceso Facco, one of the researchers of the team for this particular study said that it has been known even before how the lack of sleep could cause adverse outcomes in pregnant women. The website Wonder Woman also quoted Facco saying, "Our findings provide a potential mechanism for poor sleep in pregnancy adverse outcomes."

The team will officially present their study during the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicines yearly meeting in Atlanta, GA. This group has been established since 1977 and it is one of the most recognized and prestigious societies in the medical industry since it involves only the best obstetricians and gynecologists in the country.

Although the study does not guarantee short sleep duration would actually cause obesity to during pregnancy, but it does show a lot of data and results that it could contribute to pregnant women's weight gain.