this research raises questions about whether overweight people really are lazier

A study which goes against conventional wisdom has concluded that overweight individuals tend to be more active than normal weight people. The study which was conducted by Dr Arn Eliasson as a part of the Integrative Cardiac Health Project based at Walter Reed Army Medical Centre was done by recording the physical activity levels and sleep patterns of fourteen nurses.

The researchers said that like numerous other studies they saw that overweight people were more likely to sleep less than normal weight people. They noted that people who slept to for a short time had an average BMI of 28.3 whereas those people who slept for a longer time had an average BMI of 24.5.

What surprised the researchers was that the overweight participants tended to move around and be more active than the normal weight participants. By using something called an actigraphy armband which measures complete daily physical activity, body positions, body temperature and other indicators of physical activity they noted that the overweight people were burning more energy throughout the course of the day.

For example they noted that overweight individuals were on average taking 14,000 steps every day compared to only 11,300 steps for normal weight participants which they translated into 3064 and 2080 calories respectively. The researchers said they could not fully understand why the extra energy used did not translate into reduced weight and that more research would be needed to fully understand the implications of this study.

It is worth noting that only fourteen individuals took part in the study which could have flawed the results and that proper clinical testing usually requires hundreds of volunteers before it can be conclusively determined to be precise.  Nevertheless this research does raise questions about whether overweight people really are lazier and less active than normal weight people.

The study results were announced at American Thoracic Society International Conference.