Is Your Lack of Sleep Keeping You From Losing Weight?
So you have been boot camping it up for 3 months and still haven’t seen your scale move like you want to. Well before you get frustrated, consider this. You exercise 1 maybe 2 hours a day. There are 24 hours in a day. So what’s going on in your body the other 23 hours a day? Outside of our workout time, we spend the rest of our day eating, working, and sleeping?
Of course common sense will tell you that eating is a huge part of your weight loss goal. If you workout everyday and eat donuts everyday, you will probably not lose weight. But how many of you work as hard to get eight good hours of sleep as you do at getting to the gym, or passing up a cheeseburger for a grilled chicken salad?
There have been numerous studies done on sleep and how it correlates with weight loss. One such study was done at Case Western Reserve University. In this study, 68,183 ladies were followed for 16 years. It was concluded at the end of the study that women who got less than 5 hours of sleep were 30% more likely to gain 30 pounds over those 16 years than those ladies that averaged over 7 hours of sleep.
There are two major hormones that contribute to how successful we are in our nutritional efforts to lose weight. These hormones are leptin and ghrelin. Leptin is produced in the fat cells and sends a signal to the brain that you are full. Ghrelin is produced in the GI tract and sends a signal to the brain that it is time to eat. When rest is compromised in the body, leptin levels are decreased which means which means your body is not getting the signal that you are full. This leads to overeating. In addition, ghrelin levels are increased which means your body is sending a signal to the brain that it is time to eat even when it is not.
It is a physically stressful situation for the body to be without sleep. When the body interprets stress, it triggers cortisol which then signals the release of insulin. Insulin, in turn promotes fat storage. Fat storage is the body’s way of dealing with stress. It is a defense mechanism. Think about it. Fat on your body, by definition is just stored energy. So when the body is without sufficient energy, the body helps out by storing its own.
Also, less sleep means that you are more likely to reach for a not so healthy choice in snack. People who sleep less are more likely to crave high carbohydrate, sugar, and sodium snacks instead of the nutrient dense protein packed foods that will help you lose weight.
In a study at Stanford University, 1000 people charted the number of hours they got every night. The study found that those participants on the lower end of number of hours slept had the highest body fat and weighed the most. Those who charted at least 7 hours of sleep a night were more likely to have lower body fat.
So in conclusion, get your sleep. Your body will thank you in more ways than one. 7 hours a night or more is ideal. It is just as important as your exercise and eating regiment, it not more!
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