Our new brand, Spring FootSpa launched in Queenstown last week. Spring is, like the name suggests, mostly focussed on foot-based treatments, like massages, reflexology, hot soaks and pedicures, and a whole bunch of packages for trampers, skier’s, shoppers and partiers. But we offer a lot of traditional spa treatments too, like facials, threading, waxing and massage.
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You know you need sleep to rest and repair, but did you know more z’s might lead to less weight gain, too? That’s according to a new University of Washington study, that looked at the weight and sleeping habits of more than 1,000 pairs of twins.
The study found that those who got less sleep — less than 7 hours a night — were not only heavier, but also had less control over their weight than those who got more than 9 hours of shuteye.
The research team found that among twins sleeping less than 7 hours, genes accounted for 70% of the difference in body mass index (BMI), while environment accounted for only 4% of the difference. Conversely, among twins getting more than 9 hours of sleep, genetic influences accounted for 32% of the BMI difference — or less than half the effect found in the short-sleeping twins — while environmental factors like diet and exercise accounted for 51% of the differences in weight.
The conclusion? The less sleep you get, the more your genes contribute to how much you weigh. The more sleep you get, the less your genes determine how much you weigh.
The results suggest that shorter sleep provides a more permissive environment for the expression of obesity related genes. Or it may be that extended sleep is protective by suppressing expression of obesity genes.
More research is needed to determine which biological mechanisms are at work and exactly how much sleep is enough to override the influence of obesity genes, but the results add to the evidence that adequate sleep is crucial to maintaining a healthy weight.
Sadly, you can’t sleep yourself thin, but you can sleep yourself to a point where environmental factors, like diet and activity, are more important in determining your body weight than genetics.
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