A third of adults could be at riskNeil Shaw Assistant Editor06:43, 07 Jul 2026Updated 06:43, 07 Jul 2026Skimping on sleep leads to weight gain at the rate of one pound every six weeks, a small study suggests. Experts from Columbia University in the US found that shortening the amount of sleep by 80 minutes per night (just under 1.5 hours) led to one pound on average weight gain, and people were more likely to spend time sitting down sedentary.‌Study leader Marie-Pierre St-Onge, a professor of nutritional medicine in Columbia’s department of medicine and institute for human nutrition, said: “Our study shows that getting adequate sleep may help reduce the risk of weight gain and obesity-related conditions like heart disease and diabetes.‌“People tend to gain weight over the course of their a