Sleep helps you resist cravings and burn calories.
The waistlines of people who slept six hours a night were about three-quarters of an inch larger than those who got eight hours, new research from the University of Leeds in England reports.
You should finish eating by 7 p.m. In an eight-week university study, people who ate from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. gained two pounds. .
According to study coauthor Namni Goel, Ph.D., the time shift may have affected hormonal peaks or metabolism, causing the body to burn carbs instead of fats.
William W. Tigbe, M.D., Ph.D., of Warwick Medical School in England, says that prolonged sitting causes metabolic changes .
"Reducing sitting and increasing walking help prevent those changes." His study of postal workers found no metabolic risk factors—including large waist circumference—in those who sat for nine hours a day and walked 15,000 steps.
Because it has more receptors for hormones that break down fat, abdominal fat is more metabolically active.