Studies have linked sleep deprivation with weight gain and show how missed sleep also disrupts levels of stress and hunger-related hormones during waking hours.

Now a new Swedish study, in which 6,500 women from the age of 20 upwards throughout Sweden participated, has shown that poor sleeping patterns and excess tummy fat are connected and people who sleep too little are much fatter than those who sleep seven hours or more a night.

Scientists at Uppsala University discovered that women who have a hard time sleeping are especially at risk of becoming unhealthily overweight, increasing their chances of falling victim to coronary diseases and diabetes.

ISABEL CONWAY - see Irish times for full article http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/health/2012/0814/1224322124543.html