Women's Health Project for Women Wanting to Lose Weight

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center40 enrolled

Overview

The prevalence of obesity has steadily increased in the United States. This can lead to the worsening of type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, sleep apnea, coronary artery disease and osteoarthritis. The medical management of obesity involves dietary counseling and education, behavioral counseling with goal setting, and exercise. Patients with short sleep periods in the range of 5 to 7 hours per night are often heavier than normal sleepers even after controlling for other factors. We hypothesize that the addition of focused counseling on healthy sleeping to counseling on healthy eating (dieting) and healthy exercise can help women lose weight.

None needed

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

TRIPLE

Enrollment

Conditions

Obesity

Interventions

Eligibility

Sex: FEMALEMin age: 18 YearsMax age: 70 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Any woman between the ages of 18 and 70 who is interested in counseling for weight loss * The body mass index (BMI) must be over 25 (overweight category) and below 40 (morbidly obese) Exclusion Criteria: * Women who cannot reasonably expect to commit the time needed for 6 visits, two lab draws, and completion of three one week sleep logs * Women who have had recent hospitalization or major surgery and cannot participate in a self directed exercise program * Women with significant cardiac or respiratory disease and cannot participate in a self directed exercise program

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Weight loss

Patients will be monitored for weight loss over a six month study period. We estimate that the sleep hygiene intervention group will lose 10 pounds more than the control group.

Time frame: Six months

Secondary Outcomes

Functional capacity

We will measure functional capacity using gait speed, timed "Get-up and Go" test, and standing balance at baseline and at six months.

Time frame: 6 months