How does not sleeping enough affect weight or fat loss?
I've only been getting 4-5 hours sleep for the past 3 months. I think it's because of diet change, more exercise and so on. I've been a very light sleeper all my life anyway.
I've heard though that sleeping too few hours is not productive when trying to lose weight. Can anyone explain to me (in layman's terms) the science behind this? I think insulin, glycogen and cortisol are some of the key factors but the articles on the net are either too scientific for my poor tired brain or too simplistic.
Also, what is considered adequate or even optimal sleep for weight or fat loss?
I have seen first-hand that lack of sleep affects my weight loss.
For me, personally, being tired (and maybe not even feeling tired, but getting less than 7 hrs per night) puts me at a huge risk for binging. I've had nights where I'll get 5-6 and the next day, almost every single time, I will have overwhelming binge urges.
Above that, I believe the connection has to do with 1. your body being able to replenish & heal itself properly and 2. how it regulates hormones while sleeping. I believe there is a specific hunger hormone and without enough sleep, you have more of it in your system - basically telling your body that you are hungry when you really do not need the food. I believe there is another hormone (wish I could remember names) that tells you not to eat anymore, and that is also replenished when sleeping, so not enough sleep and that hormone isn't there in quantities great enough to tell you to stop!
Good question. I have a 3 month old and a 3 year old. I never get much sleep, and the sleep I do get is interrupted. There's not anything I can do about it at the moment (or in any moments in the near future), so hopefully it isn't that big of a deal.
I have heard the metabolism changes due to cortisol, etc. For me I KNOW my appetite increases dramatically.
OTOH, when my diet and exercise are balanced I sleep shorter but deeper and for ME I need a little less sleep to feel energetic and refreshed (6 hours usually is all I can sleep and then I am raring to go). When my diet is poor or my exercise is either too much or too little I need more.
When you sleep your body heals itself and you should wake up feeling refreshed and energized. When you don't get enough rest, your body craves quick energy sources to kind of make up the difference. Hormones can also get out of whack when you don't sleep enough.. Basically when you don't get enough sleep, your "I'm hungry" hormones signal stronger and the "I'm full" ones are weaker!
It directly affects your hunger/impulse management and can cause huge increases in cravings, not to mention cortisol regulates your metabolism and without the restorative effects of sleep your body isn't getting the physiological recovery it needs from the day's activities.
Ghrelin, leptin, and cortisol are all greatly affected by sleep and a lack of it can cause a profound disregulation in your body. That said, the amount that is necessary for each person can differ wildly. I have a friend who gets sick and cannot function on less than 9-10 hours a night, and others who are okay going on 6-7 hours and can deal with less, if need be. We are not all the same and sleep needs vary just like calorie needs.
If you're getting little enough sleep or poor enough sleep quality that you are feeling groggy or dragging upon waking, you'd better believe it will be affecting your hunger cues and eating pattern. It may be subtle, that really depends on your individual body, but if you have noted both abnormal food issues and sleep problems, the two are likely correlated even if one did not directly cause the other.
I've wondered a lot how much my sleep quantity/quality can impact my weightloss [attempts?]. The trend right now seems that if I get anywhere between 6-9 hours of sleep, I'm exhausted. On the other hand, if I get less than 6 or more than 9, then I usually feel ok/good. It's weird. But another concern of mine is that I've always had a weak-ish bladder. Now that I'm upping my water intake, I've had to get up during the night up to 3 or even 4 times just to go pee. Then I see it as a tradeoff and I wonder what's better: getting all the water I'm supposed to, or get good sleep without interruption? Ugh! I don't know.
When I was diagnosed with sleep apnea and other sleep disorders including not getting enough deep sleep and restless leg syndrome and periodicl limb movement disorder about eight years ago, my doctors told me that the treatment (cpap machine and medication) would probably result in my losing lose some weight without trying.
I thought they were nuts, because I'd never lost weight without trying in my life, but it turned out to be true. And in fact the weight loss inspired this journey.
I was afraid to try to lose weight, because whenever I tried in the past, I only ever ended up eventually giving up and gaining, so I decided that I wasn't going to try to lose weight. I was going to focus on maintaining the weight loss first and foremost and only a far distant second goal would be losing just one more pound. I made weight maintenance more important than weight loss.
That turned out to be key, because with weight maintanence being the bigger goal, I wasn't tempted to "blow it." If I made a mistake that I didn't think would result in weight loss, I didn't say "well if I'm not going to lose, I might as well gain and get to eat what I want."
I didn't have any more "binge today and start fresh tomorrow" moments.
I'm not sure how sleep is involved in weight loss (I know cortisol is supposed to be involved), but I know sleep is involved in a great number of health issues.
Rats when deprived of sleep die of immune and autoimmune disfunction. Sleep deprivation studies are no longer done with humans, because they're considered too dangerous.
That my autoimmune disease also has gone into remission also, I wonder whether chronic sleep deprivation was causing that as well. My fibromyalgia symptoms are very dependent upon my sleep quality. A day or two of insomnia will send my fibro into a tailspin.
Sleep is probably the best and yet most underutilized medicine.
Making sure I get at least 6 hours a night is a weight loss priority for me. I really want 8. The appetite and sleep correlation is interesting but i flat-out see it on the scale. If i have a week were i can only sleep 4 hours a night, I'm not gonna lose very much - maybe 1.2 lb. If I get my sleep, 2-3 lbs will happen.
Getting 8 hours of sleep is just as important as drinking my daily water. It makes a big difference in my journey.
I survived for YEARS on eating too much sugar to make it through the day. I got HORRIBLE sleep due to a nonsleeping baby and toddler (and carrying into preschool years). I gained from 235 after he was born back up to 265 in a few months.
So, sugar for survivability/energy and then bad impulse control from the chronic lack of sleep. Then finally started to sleep (later learned sleep disturbances is common for autism) and I still couldn't sleep due to restless leg syndrome - more lack of sleep equaled more restless legs - it was a vicious circle.
And now that I get good sleep, I find it easier to make good decisions about food and have the energy to exercise. Fitting in exercise on a regular basis while chronically fatigued? It's so not going to happen.
I even notice now that when I have a couple days of short sleep that I feel hungrier and find it harder to resist the urge to eat sugar.
So yes, lack of sleep has a profound affect on my weight loss efforts.
I know that for me - personally - when I get too little sleep, I tend to eat more as a side effect. Like sometimes when you're dehydrated, & you THINK you're hungry, but really your body is THIRSTY, and that's why they say to drink a tall glass of water & wait 15-20 minutes, because sometimes we misread the body's hunger cues.
I think it's the same with sleep. Plus, when I'm sleep deprived, I believe that my body tries to "keep awake" by ingesting more food - craving certain things to help it "stay awake" - specifically sugary items.
I'm not sure of all the science of the matter, but I am completely convinced that getting proper sleep is good for you in many ways. And I also believe that there is no "right amount" of proper sleep for everyone - it's like everything else - a very individual thing. I do best on 6 good solid sleep hours per night. Anything less & I'm dragging buttocks. Anything more & I'm just off kilter for the whole day (like a sleep hangover.)
Last edited by Beach Patrol; 04-03-2012 at 09:52 AM.
Little sleep or a lot of sleep - it makes no difference to me whatsoever.
I guess if you're a person prone to late night snacking then staying up later would mean more calories?
But actual lack of sleep and your body wanting to suddenly hoard fat? I don't buy it at all.
You might not buy it, but our metabolic regulation is controlled by glands that absolutely react to the inputs into our systems, including both nutrients and energy. Circadian rhythms aren't myth and there is ample research to back up correlations between hormone disregulation and sleep deprivation, controlled for calories.
If you're interested I can provide some links to studies and the discussions of them in this area. People literally become sick, in physically visible and more subtle ways, when deprived of sleep or sleeping in irregular/disrupted patterns.
How does not sleeping enough affect weight or fat loss?
