How does Sleep affect Fat Loss?
Can being sleep deprived cause you to gain weight? Yes! Many people don’t realize the many health implications of sleep deprivation. It may even be hindering your fat loss efforts.
How does sleep (or sleep deprivation) affect your weight loss efforts?
Here are just a few reasons why sleeping may be the missing link to your weight loss efforts:
1. When you’re tired, it is so much harder to make healthy choices. I’m not sure if this is more about psychology or physiology or a combination of both. However, I know I have experienced it firsthand. When I get a good night’s sleep, sticking to my regular exercise and healthy eating routine is a cinch. But when I’m sleep deprived, I somehow think that chocolate and sugar will make me feel better. The truth is, it never does! It actually makes me feel worse. Much worse, because the blood sugar highs and lows makes me more tired and cranky than before I ate the sweets.
2. Now for some science. Researchers from several separate studies have found a link between sleep and the hormones that influence our eating behavior. Two specific hormones are involved. Ghrelin is responsible for feelings of hunger. Leptin tells the brain when it’s time to stop. When you’re sleep deprived, your ghrelin levels increase at the same time that your leptin levels decrease. The result is an increased craving for food and not feeling full (a hormone disaster as far as staying on track with a healthy eating plan). Nothing is worse than craving food and being hungry at the same time.
3. Many people don’t know this, but your body adjusts itself based on your circadian rhythms and the amount of sunlight outside. Without getting too deep into the science, these rhythms and light tell your body to physically recover approximately between the hours of 10pm-2am and to mentally recover approximately between 2am-6am. If you aren’t getting to bed until 12am, you are missing out on 2 crucial hours of physical repair. This can result in all sorts of aches and pains that do not get better, no matter what you try. I have seen clients relieve bad backs and aching joints by just getting to bed by 10pm. I have even seen people get smarter by sleeping til 6am (ok, I made this last statement up but wouldn’t that be great?). All kidding aside, I have seen people act consistently sharper when they are well rested.
How are you going to get a good night’s sleep to ensure you are not sabotaging your weight loss efforts?
Here are a few tips for getting a good night’s sleep:
1. Don’t watch TV before bed. You may not realize how fired up the news or your favorite TV show gets you before bed time. Instead grab a book or your favorite magazine and read in bed. This works wonders, especially a good fiction book that will help you forget the day’s events.
2. Cut your caffeine intake early in the day. An afternoon coffee or tea can still be racing through your blood stream at 10pm. Cut out your last caffeinated beverage by noon. This includes all coffee and teas (except herbal teas). Once you catch up on your sleep, you won’t be so dependent on your afternoon java kick.
3. Avoid Sugar before bed. (You were avoiding sugar anyway right?) Consuming sugar right before bed leads to a blood sugar roller coaster ride, potentially waking you up in the middle of the night due to a blood sugar low.
4. Put your work away before bed. There is nothing worse than a racing mind before bed. Crunching numbers and reading work documents right before bed may lead to dreams about work (or nightmares). End all work at least 2 hours before bed. If this is not possible for you, you may need to reassess your work schedule a bit.
Whatever the adjustments are for you, remember, sleep may just be the missing link in your nutrition, exercise and health regimen. Stick to your Diet Solution Meal Plans and tuck yourself in at 10pm each night and you will be well on your way to fat loss success.
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You have a good sence of humer, but that makes sence. Because I never seem to get to bed before 12 and I get up at 6. And there are days I could go strait to bed when I get home at 4pm, that’s how draind I am.
Now I really consider my bad habits. My most days are finished about sleeping about 5 hours and eating more and more. Thanks for your good advice.
Interesting way to help your body fight fat.
It’s definitely worth a try!
I never know sleeping could be a factor of losing fat. Thanks a lot for the post.
I’ve been diagnosed with sleep apnea and was told by the doctor if I could lose the weight the apnea would be reduced or at least kept to a minimum . This proves that point for me . I’m exhausted allday everyday and can’t lose the weight. so ya I’d agree with the article
If you are asleep, you aren’t stuffing food in your face, either!
I agree with the not getting enough sleep is messing up with me loosing weight. I haven’t been able to loose anything for the past couple years. The scale just keeps slowly climbing which depresses me and of course I snack more. When I do go to bed at a decent hour then I wake up 2 or 3 times a night. So for me to get even a good 5 hours of sleep would be a blessing. I have tried to get some walking in but alot of days to tired and no energy.
It’s amazing how many common-sense things that all of our mothers used to tell us to do really work!!
Listen to Mom!!
I heard that somewhere else as well. That if we got more sleep, we could lose the weight. So – can someone please just wake me up when I’m a size 6?
That makes a lot of sense. I usually get sweet cravings when I’m very tired.
I’ve never been able to go to sleep that early. Tried it a couple of times and was up at 3-3:30 for the duration. With less than 6-7 hours sleep, though, I admit that the cravings and hunger get out of whack.
I have fibromyalgia and that is the one thing that is consistant with that disease is sleep deprivation. We who have this disease know what I’m talking about. So, even though we get the sleep that we need(seldom) we never get into the REM stage that is when the body is repairing itself. So, we have the double whammy. We don’t get the sleep that we need in the first place because of our pain, and the sleep that we do get is not doing our bodies any good. Thiis article hits the nail right on the head, because that’s why I always want to eat something sweet(mostly chocolate) when I can’t get to sleep. Thank you for this article it really explains a lot.
I’ve never gone to bed even close to 10:00 PM. (My mother says that even when I was an infant I was a nightowl.) However, I nearly always get 8 or more hours sleep, because I don’t have to get up early. So can my late schedule be just pushing back the physical/mental rejuvenation a few hours later? Seems to work for me. I do notice that I have to curb my sweet craving late at night, though…that’s where the willpower kicks in – most of the time.
Thanks Isobel. I work night shift 2 nights out of every eight….have done this for the past 2 years and have put on 7 kilos despite every effort to exercise, eat healthy, decrease food intake. Other colleagues have experienced the same thing and we believe it is hormone/sleep deprivation related. Aaaaahhh!
I have been gaining 10 pounds a year since I retired and have become somewhat of a nightowl. I watch lots of TV in the hours before bed, but I will be changing all that now. Thanks for the information.
Whilst I agree with you in theory – and this is probably good advice for the majority – there are individuals that do not need 8 hours sleep a night – I wish I was one of them.
This can become evident even as a baby – those babies that are happy to be awake when Mum wants to sleep may be in that category. Not the ones that scream all night – the ones that just want to be entertained. They usually turn out to be high achievers.
During my working years, helping sleep deprived mothers of babies with sleep problems was one of my specialties.
I have also known adults who never need more than 4 or 5 hours sleep a night and never seem to feel tired – and they don’t gain weight either.
So whilst this is good for most of us – including me – one size doesn’t fit everybody.
Thanks Isobel for the info and thanks Sally for your story..I thought I was the only one on this earth that stayed up late because I am a night owl too. I get razzed by everyone that knows me, but it’s been such a part of my life it is very difficult to change. I know this has lots to do with my being over weight also, because my sweet cravings come at night. I am trying to change this. Thanks for everyones stories..they help.