Do you ever wonder if trouble losing weight and sleep problems are related? If so, you should read this article.
The majority of individuals don’t get enough shut-eye at night. In actuality, roughly 30% of individuals sleep for an average of less than six hours per night.
There is growing data that suggests sleep deprivation may be the reason so many people have trouble losing weight. Here are SEVEN explanations for why getting adequate sleep could aid in weight loss.
Word assistance displayed on a weight scale with an isolated white background. A significant risk factor for weight gain and obesity is inadequate sleep. A higher body mass index (BMI) and weight increase have frequently been connected to poor sleep.
Although everyone has different needs for sleep, generally speaking, research has shown that when people get less than seven hours of sleep per night, their weight fluctuates.
Short sleep duration increased the chance of obesity by 89% in children and 55% in adults, according to a significant review1. Another investigation followed 60,000 non-obese nurses for a period of 16 years. Compared to nurses who slept at least seven hours per night, those who slept five hours or less per night had a 15% higher chance of being obese at the conclusion of the study.
Man napping on the floor as opposed to working out
obese women consuming a chocolate donut
Numerous studies have shown that persons who lack sleep claim to have a greater hunger. Sleep’s effects on the hunger hormones leptin and ghrelin are most likely to blame for this. A hormone called ghrelin is secreted in the stomach and alerts the brain to hunger. When the stomach is empty, levels are highest just before eating, and they are lowest right after.
A hormone secreted from fat cells is called leptin. It curbs appetite and tells the brain when you’re full. Lack of sleep causes the body to produce more ghrelin and less leptin, which makes you feel hungry and increases your appetite3.
Getting Insufficient Sleep Can Make You Eat More Calories
In a study with 12 men, it was discovered that when subjects were only given four hours of sleep, they consumed an average of 559 more calories the next day than when they were given eight.
Short sleep duration’s effects on energy intake
Reduced sleep must either result in an increase in calorie intake or a decrease in energy expenditure in order to cause weight gain. Fig. illustrates the different processes through which reduced sleep time may affect body weight. The greater food consumption of short sleepers is the most logical reason for why they have a higher risk of obesity. Indeed, after a brief period of sleep deprivation, numerous recent intervention studies have noted an increase in food intake. Short sleep duration may raise the risk of weight gain by inhibiting the restoration of a hormonal profile that supports hunger regulation, according to one theory. As was already noted, research have shown that getting insufficient sleep lowers leptin levels, raises ghrelin and cortisol levels, changes glucose homeostasis, and activates the system. Recent research, however, have not been able to replicate these results, which shows that the rationale for why sleep deprivation causes an increase in hunger is not as solid as previously believed.
Short sleep duration’s effects on energy expenditure
Another possible reason for the short sleep-obesity relationship is decreased energy expenditure. First off, getting little sleep might make it harder to stick to exercise routines because it causes more lethargy and exhaustion. Recent studies, in particular, demonstrated that healthy men’s daytime spontaneous physical activity decreased when they were subjected to short-term sleep deprivation. It is interesting to note that the decrease in overall physical activity under free-living conditions was accompanied by a shift toward less strenuous pursuits. In light of these findings, it is possible that decreased voluntary physical activity is another mechanism through which inadequate sleep contributes to weight increase. The available literature led us to the conclusion that short sleep duration does not appear to significantly affect total energy expenditure, nor is there sufficient evidence to support any meaningful effect of restricted sleep on the components of energy expenditure. However, we recently reviewed the evidence on short sleep duration and its association with energy expenditure. The following sections give a quick description of how short sleep duration affects the elements of human energy consumption.
Energy Expenditure from Exercise
The most unpredictable of the TEE components. The lack of sleep could have a variety of effects on physical activity. On a behavioral level, less sleep may make people less active as a result of feeling more exhausted. On the other hand, it can’t be completely ruled out that being fatigued can make people more active in an effort to fight it, essentially staying awake through moving.
Does sleep extension affect the regulation of body weight?
To determine the overall advantages of sleep extension, studies examining how it affects weight change and hunger regulation in sleep-deprived obese people are required.
