Sleep to lose weight? As strange as it sounds, researchers from several separate studies have found that how much we sleep and the quality of our sleep could disrupt the hormones in the human body that regulate glucose, metabolism rate as well as appetite, leading to a substantial weight gain.
For this article I have looking at the results in 3 recent studies, one in Finland, two in United States, but for the sake of simplicity I will try not to overwhelm you with lots of numbers and statistics. We are after all not scientists but health conscientious people looking after our health. What it is important to know is that two specific hormones can influence our appetite and studies show that production of both may be influenced by how much or how little we sleep.
Leptin is a hormone released by your fat cells that tells your brain to stop eating. People sleeping only five hours a day have a lower leptin level of 15% compared to those who sleep for eight hours. The brain takes the low leptin level to mean starvation and boosts your hunger and burns fewer calories. The result is that you gain weight without eating any additional food.
A second hormone, ghrelin, shows levels of 15% higher in sleep depraved subjects. Ghrelin it is produced by the stomach and works in the opposite direction telling your brain to keep eating.
Together with a healthy diet and regular physical activity, getting a minimum of 7 – 8 hours of sleep a day may be more important than we previously thought not just for weight loss but for our overall well being.
Here are some suggestions of actions you may take in order to improve your sleep patterns:
• Try not to go to bed hungry, or within three hours of eating a full meal
• Minimize caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol, especially before bedtime
• Avoid mental stimulation too close to your bed time. Leave all electronic devices (TV, laptop, cell phone) outside your bedroom
• Avoid physical activity at least 2 hours before going to sleep
You must log in to post a comment.