Should Expanded Weight Loss Counseling Include Sleep Counseling and Simple Clinical Tools for Patient Assessment?

Sleep restriction is associated with weight gain and chronic medical disorders. We randomized 40 women with body mass indices between 25 and 49 kg/m2 into 2 counseling groups: dietary advice with exercise and dietary advice with exercise and sleep counseling. We measured blood pressure, gait speed, and the Get Up and Go test. The mean age was 43.0 ± 10.4 years; the mean body mass index was 33.4 ± 4.3 kg/m2. Twenty-seven subjects completed 6 visits. There was no difference between the 2 intervention groups in weight loss. Mean blood pressures were within normal limits. Gait speeds increased and Get Up and Go times decreased in the women who completed 6 months of counseling. These tools provide quick assessments of health and physical performance and provide dietitians with additional outcome measurements.