I found that nights where I didn’t sleep much, in particular if it was a few nights in a row, I was craving food, especially carbohydrates. It seemed that the lack of sleep was throwing a monkey wrench into my weight loss plans. This, of course, piqued my curiosity. Was it just me? Did my lack of sleep actually effect my loss of weight? So on went the search to see if there is a cause-effect relationship between sleep, or lack thereof, and weight loss or weight gain.
Studies Show that Lack of Sleep Hinders Weight Loss and Causes Weight Gain
Doctors have been studying the relationship between sleep and weight loss for many years. Beginning in the 1980’s, there were studies that ran for as much as twenty years and the results of the studies demonstrated that women who sleep less than seven hours per night weigh more. They have a harder time losing weight, and often gain even more. One study followed 70,000 women and found that those who slept five hours nightly on average weighed 32% more than those who slept seven hours nightly. Those who only had six hours sleep averaged 12% more weight. So much for my weight loss plans if I’m not going to set enough sleep.
Sufficient sleep each night is required if you wish to fulfill your weight loss goals.
Since we are told that losing even ten percent of our body weight (assuming that you’re over-weight) can trigger immense health benefits, this fact can have a significant bearing on weight-related diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes.
Women who are deprived of sleep for several nights in a row tend to have a rise in hormones that stimulate hunger. In spite of that, the women monitored did not actually increase the calories they ate, and that was not the source of the weight gain. It is thought that when you do not get enough sleep, your basal metabolic rate decreases. That means that you burn fewer calories at rest. This is a huge discovery for those who have sedentary lifestyles. Lack of sleep is pulling them rapidly downhill as their body conserves more and more calories. People who are sleep deprived even wiggle less, so they decrease this aspect of calorie burning as well. Lack of sleep suppresses the urge to fidget. In other words, a lack of sleep decreases the chance of you succeeding with your weight loss goals.
Why You Don’t Succeed in Losing Weight When You Don’t Get Enough Sleep
If you want to succeed in your diet plan (if I want to succeed with my weight loss plans), you will want to make sure you get enough sleep. When you do not get enough sleep, you do not metabolize carbohydrates efficiently. This leads to elevated levels of insulin as the body tries to manage higher glucose levels. The result is a greater storage of body fat and possible insulin resistance. At the same time, leptin is decreased and you crave more carbs. Growth hormone production is reduced, so weight is stored as fat, not muscle. While these problems are occurring, blood pressure can increase as well as the risk of heart disease.
In order to succeed in your diet plan and have a healthy weight loss you need to give yourself a gift. The gift you need to receive is to get enough sleep. Adequate sleep is one of the key fuels that propels your body toward better health.
