Snoozing Your Way to a New, Leaner You

Time magazine has dubbed it the “drool-on-your-pillow” diet. And if you liked the eat-all-the-steak-and-eggs-you-want Atkins diet, you’ll love this one.

Set for release in January 2000, Santa Barbara-based writers T.S. Wiley, a medical researcher, and Bent Formby, a cell biologist, have come up with a weight theory that has gotten them pounds of cash. After a heated auction, Pocket Books won the rights to “Kept in the Dark: The Killer Connection Between Sleep and Food” for a little more than $200,000.

The Sleeping Diet theory: Obesity and its associated illnesses are caused by leaving the light on longer than nature intended. The authors suggest that when days became lengthened by artificial light 70 years ago, we started burning our candle at both ends, thus tricking the body into thinking it is always summer. According to the authors, the body starts thinking like a polar bear and pounds down carbs. The line likely to resonate with tired and overweight millions: Sleep more and you’ll lose weight.

“What we’re saying is that [weight loss] really is a flick of the switch,” explains Wiley, who, with Formby, spent several years compiling medical research to back up the theory. The authors suggest an average 9 1/2 hours of sleep during winter, from September through April.

And they hope the book will be sought by those concerned about their health, not just those who want to look good in a bikini. “A host of complex hormonal interactions, such as increased insulin and cortisol levels, result from extended, increased artificial light exposure,” says Wiley. “People are literally killing themselves by not getting enough sleep. We just want to put the theory out there so people can make up their own minds. After that, they’re adults. They can figure out their own bedtime.”