Sleep Your Way to Weight Loss
Research indicates the less you sleep, the more weight you may gain. How is it that the numbers of hours you sleep can affect your weight?
"In our fast paced society, sleep is sacrificed in order to have more time to get things done." shares Susan Mills-Gray, a Nutrition and Health Specialist with MU Extension. "Unfortunately, this lack of sleep seems to be a strong factor in the challenge of managing a healthy weight", Mills-Gray adds.
Several quality research studies have shown that sleep loss leads to higher levels of a hormone that triggers appetite, and lowers levels of a hormone that tells your body it's full, thus leading to pounds that cling. More specifically, researchers believe that sleep loss impacts two particular hormones - ghrelin and leptin - which are thought to play a key role in the interaction between less sleep and increased weight. Ghrelin, was discovered about eight years ago and is primarily produced by the stomach, triggers appetite in humans: the more ghrelin you have, the more you want to eat. Leptin, a hormone produced by fat cells, decreases appetite and boosts metabolism: low leptin levels can lead to an increased appetite. Lack of sleep causes more ghrelin and less leptin to be produced; therefore increased appetite overall. The body wakes up hungrier - searching for food to boost energy, when adequate sleep should have provided that energy.
What's the opportune amount of sleep in order to maintain a healthy weight? It seems to be eight hours. Let's take look at some specific studies and their findings:
A 2006 study a the U. of Warwick Medical School studied 43,000 persons and found that people who get less than five hours of sleep per night actually double their risk of becoming obese.
Laval University of Quebec released this finding in 2006, that children who slept even an hour or two less than other children became more overweight.
Studies released in 2004 by both the University of Bristol and Stanford University School of Medicine found that those who slept fewer hours had higher levels of ghrelin and lower levels of leptin, and that these hormone changes occurred during sleep.
This link between lack of sleep and increased weight gain makes sense. After all, sleeping allows our bodies to refresh and heal, and cutting down on that process can only do our bodies more harm than good. So slow down, get a good night's sleep and drop some weight while you sleep!