Relationship between Sleep and Weight Loss/Gain

Are you not capable of losing enough weight even after following a balanced diet and exercise schedule? Well, then it is time to take care of your sleeping schedule and get a clear idea of the daily amount of sleep. According to a stat report, it has been found that there are many people who do not get enough sleep at night. Any adult must get a solid 7 to 8 hours of sleep but it has been found that more than 30% of the adults sleep less than 6 hours a day. The truth is sleep and weight loss are interrelated. Sleep is very important for your health specially if you are trying to lose weight. 

Also Read: Why Is Sleep Important?

Poor sleep can make you gain weight

Poor sleep results in a higher Body mass index (BMI) that may lead you to gain weight. There is no doubt that sleep requirement highly varies from person to person. On average, people who sleep less than seven hours tend to gain more weight and 50% of the people suffer from obesity this way. Now poor sleep and weight gain can give rise to other additional sleep disorders like sleep apnea and other sleep disorders. So, this forms a critical cycle that is hard to escape unless you follow some important tips on how to sleep well. Following are some consequences of having poor sleep crucial -

1. Poor sleep may increase your appetite  

   Several studies have stated that sleep-deprived people have higher chances of having an increased appetite due to the impact of hunger hormones- ghrelin and leptin. Good sleep and weight loss control these hunger hormones and regulate hunger. Ghrelin is one of the most crucial hormones that indicate the sensation of hunger in the brain. Leptin is another hormone that is released by the fat cells to control hunger and send indications to your brain. Now when you do not get enough sleep, then the body starts producing more ghrelin and lesser leptin makes you feel hungry most of the time. This, as a result, increases your appetite and you start having food cravings. In addition to this, Cortisol-the stress hormone also gets higher in case of sleep deficiency which may also result in increasing the appetite and you end up gaining weight. 

2. Poor sleep may increase your calorie intake
   

   Poor sleep can also increase your urge to have more calories. Research has been conducted where 12 men slept only four hours a week and they ate 559 more calories than usual. This abrupt increase in calorie intake increased appetite and unhealthy food choices may also lead you to gain increased weight each day. Moreover, a person who does not sleep at night experiences an increased ghrelin hormonal level in their body which makes them feel most hungry. As a result of this, they end up eating a bigger portion or bigger sizes of the food. 
   
   

3. Poor sleep increases fat cells 

   A bad sleep at night will probably make you feel tired, grumpy, and confused. Poor sleep not only makes your brain tired but also makes your body muscles fat-tired. When your body is suffering from sleep deficiency then there are chances that you may experience metabolic imbalance. In this condition, the body’s ability to properly utilize insulin is completely disturbed and falls to 30%. This dropping down of the insulin level in the body is bad because the main function of insulin is to remove the fatty acids and lipids from the bloodstream and prevent them from getting accumulated in the body. But when the insulin level rises in the body, that fat starts getting accumulated in places like the liver. This is how you start getting fat and invite thousands of other diseases into the body. 
   
   

4. Poor sleep may reduce your resting metabolism 

   The resting metabolism rate (RMR) is used to calculate the number of calories burned from your body when you are at rest. Basically, the RMR depends on weight, height, gender, and muscle mass. It has been found that lack of sleep lowers the RMR level. Even though scientists are not very sure about this and researchers are still on to determine the exact result. In addition, lower RMR may also cause loss of muscle instead of losing fat cells. 
   
   

5. Lack of sleep can demotivate you to perform physical activity

   Deficiency of sleep usually makes you feel less motivated to exercise. Even if you manage to feel motivated about exercising, you are more likely to feel tired even after doing a short-term physical activity. So if you want to be a good athlete? Then you need a good sleep of 10 hours minimum.

Conclusion