The Effects of Sleep on Weight Loss
Do you recognize yourself in the following description? Devoted to living a healthier lifestyle, you eat well, focusing on protein and vegetables. Your workout consistently. Overall, you’ve been maintaining a healthy lifestyle for a long period of time. Yet, there are little to no results, and your efforts seem hopeless.
Most people, wanting to fit into their old jeans, resort to the following plan: Eat less, move more. Through this process however, one forgets a crucial component: Sleep. “Sleep has its fingers in everything from mood to mental capacity to physical well-being” -Dr. W. Christopher Winter, Ph.D., president of Charlottesville Neurology and Sleep Medicine. Sleep, (or moreover, lack thereof), can have countless health ramifications. These ramifications in turn may affect, your capacity to exercise regardless of your willingness to, and your body’s cravings for unhealthy foods.
Although your motivation is high, you may not be physically able to lose weight. This may be because sleep deprivation may be reducing your physical performance, increasing your fatigue level and slowing down your reaction time. You may also be in a state of metabolic grogginess (the state of your fat cells after a bad night’s sleep). This state will then cause your body to produce more insulin. The insulin, will then store fat in the wrong places prompting your body to gain weight, rather than lose it.
Sleep Deprivation can also effect you diet. Not only can it effect your willpower to make healthy decisions but, can make it harder to make those good choices. the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism found that sleeping less than six hours triggers the area of your brain that increases your need for food. Sleep Dep. Also causes your cortisol levels to rise. Cortisol, in turn activates the reward centers in your brain, causing you to crave food.
Therefore, similarly to how one’s diet and exercise regime is important for weight loss, so is getting the right amount of sleep. Studies suggest around 9-7 hours of sleep a night, yet it does vary from person to person, based on your genes. However, you’ll know when you’ve had enough sleep, when you wake up the next morning, ready to start the day.
