Keeping weight off and losing weight is challenging. Diet and exercise are usually thought of as key factors when it comes to weight loss however, poor sleep is often a neglected factor in your lifestyle. The goal for weight loss is usually to retain muscle mass and decrease body fat as much as possible. If you are not getting the correct amount of sleep then it can determine how much fat is lost as well as how much muscle mass the body has retained while on a calorie-restricted diet.
According to research 7 to 9 hours of sleep is mandatory for adults, otherwise not obtaining the perfect amount of sleep might affect your health. Sleeping less than the recommended amount results in an increased risk of obesity, and greater body fat, and can also influence how easily you lose weight on a calorie-controlled diet.
The reasons that shorter sleep is associated with higher body weight and affects weight loss include metabolism, appetite, and selection of food.
Two important appetite hormones in our body leptin and ghrelin are affected by sleep. Leptin is a hormone that decreases appetite, thus we usually feel fuller when leptin levels are high. On the other hand, ghrelin stimulates appetite and is responsible for the feeling of hunger therefore it is often referred to as the “hunger hormone”.
According to a study, poor sleep decreases leptin and increases ghrelin levels. This combination could increase a person’s appetite and may make a person more likely to overeat making calorie restrictions more difficult to adhere to. This means sleep deprivation may lead to weight gain due to these changes in hormones caused by appetite. So you must prioritize getting a good night’s sleep.
Reduced sleep has also been shown to impact food selection along with changes in appetite hormones, and the way the brain perceives food. The areas of the brain responsible for reward are more active in response to food after sleep loss according to researchers when compared to people who had good sleep. This explains why sleep-deprived people snack more often compared to those who get enough sleep and tend to choose carbohydrate-rich foods and sweet-tasting snacks.
Metabolism is also affected by sleep duration, especially glucose (sugar) metabolism. Our bodies release insulin, a hormone that helps to process the glucose in our blood when we eat something. However, poor sleep loss can impair our bodies’ response to insulin and reduce its ability to uptake glucose. Long-term sleep loss could lead to health conditions such as obesity and type 2 diabetes but people may be able to recover from the occasional night of sleep loss.
Now it may be clear to you how sleep loss is affecting your goals of losing weight. A lack of sleep can increase appetite and makes us more likely to eat unhealthy foods by changing hormones. Therefore alongside diet and physical activity as part of a healthy lifestyle sleep should be considered essential.
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