The latest trend on the scene – the Overnight Diet, is a rapid weight-loss plan that claims you can actually slim down while you sleep.

American obesity doctor Caroline Apovian, of the Boston Medical Center, just penned a new book, ‘The Overnight Diet,’ advising that dieters eat a high-protein diet for six days, followed by one day of a liquid diet.

That followed by lots of sleep (with no exercise necessary) equals a slimmer you, up to two pounds per night and nine pounds in one week — at least that’s the promise, the New York Daily News reported.

While mounting research suggests that more sleep can help you lose weight, skeptics say the diet is all a little too good to be true.

“In order to lose two pounds of body fat overnight you’d have to burn up about six or seven thousand calories and there’s just no way to do that by sleeping,” Keith Ayoob, director of the nutrition clinic at the college’s Rose F. Kennedy Center, told ABC News.

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A new Duke University survey has found that women wake up far more grumpier than their male counterparts.

In fact, the research stated that females need far more sleep than men and they suffer more mentally and physically if forced to go without it, CBS News reported.

Lack of sleep appears to put them at higher risk of heart disease, depression and psychological problem, but sleep seems to have less effect on men”s health.

The research found that men with sleeping problems showed no increased risk of the conditions that were affecting the women.

In this particular study, women had more depression, anger, and hostility early in the mornings when they weren”t getting the same amount of sleep than they normally get, said Michael Breus, a clinical psychologist, sleep expert and author of “The Sleep Doctor”s Diet Plan.”

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Not getting enough sleep can have harmful effects on your heart, an expert at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has said.

The ideal amount of sleep is between six to eight hours, said cardiologist Alan S. Gertler, M.D., associate professor of medicine in UAB’s Division of Cardiovascular Diseases and part of UAB’s Heart and Vascular Services.

“Deep, high-quality sleep is needed to lower heart rate and blood pressure, which reduce stress on the heart,” Gertler said.

Heart rate and blood pressure also rise and fall during rapid eye movement (REM) in response to dreams. According to the National Institutes of Health, those variable rates also contribute to making the heart healthier.

“Without enough sleep, there is an increase in blood pressure and stress hormones, lower glucose tolerance and weight gain. All of these factors can increase the risk of coronary artery disease,” Gertler said.

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A new study has for the first time shown that certain nutrients may play an underlying role in short and long sleep duration and that people who report eating a large variety of foods – an indicator of an overall healthy diet – had the healthiest sleep patterns.

Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania analyzed data from the 2007-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which includes demographic, socioeconomic, dietary, and health-related questions..

The authors found that total caloric intake varied across groups. Short sleepers consumed the most calories, followed by normal sleepers, followed by very short sleepers, followed by long sleepers. Food variety was highest in normal sleepers, and lowest in very short sleepers. Differences across groups were found for many types of nutrients, including proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals.

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Insufficient sleep is one of the outcrops of a fast and furious lifestyle. We talk enormously about changing our eating and exercising enough, but somehow sleeping habits are not so much talked about unless it is related to beauty. The present generation is either working or studying or partying late into the night. Consistent lack of sleep over time can lead to diabetes, high blood pressure and cardiac diseases, depression and obesity. Therefore medical researchers are now saying that a good night’s sleep should be appreciated as being equally important as exercising and eating well for good health.

The new born slumbers most of the day. As we age, our sleep requirements reduce. The healthy sleep norm is about 8 hours for an adult and a bit over 9 hours for children.

Why is sleep so important?

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Extending nightly sleep in mildly sleepy, healthy adults increases daytime alertness and reduces pain sensitivity, a new study has suggested.

“Our results suggest the importance of adequate sleep in various chronic pain conditions or in preparation for elective surgical procedures. We were surprised by the magnitude of the reduction in pain sensitivity, when compared to the reduction produced by taking codeine,” said Timothy Roehrs, PhD, the study’s principal investigator and lead author.

The study involved 18 healthy, pain-free, sleepy volunteers. They were randomly assigned to four nights of either maintaining their habitual sleep time or extending their sleep time by spending 10 hours in bed per night. Objective daytime sleepiness was measured using the multiple sleep latency test (MSLT), and pain sensitivity was assessed using a radiant heat stimulus.

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People who were showing the early signs of high blood pressure were able to restore readings to healthy levels in just six weeks if they had an extra hour in bed every night, a new study found.

High blood pressure, or hypertension, is thought to be responsible for half of all heart attacks and strokes, and lack of sleep and a stressful lifestyle have long been associated with an increased risk of the condition.

But the new study, carried out at Harvard Medical School in Boston, USA, is one of the first to prove that blood pressure can be brought under control by simply increasing sleep duration, the Daily Mail reported.

Researchers recruited 22 middle aged men and women who either had prehypertension, where their readings were not excessively high but had been increasing and were on target to reach dangerous levels.

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16-18 year olds perform better academically when they shave about two hours off from 9 hours of sleep recommended for them by federal guidelines, a new study has claimed.

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The best position to sleep in is on your back, according to a new study. It prevents neck and back pain, reduces acid reflux and minimizes wrinkles. Sleeping on your back makes it easy for your head, neck and spine to maintain a neutral position.

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