Lack of Sleep and Weight Loss
 

Do you find that lack of sleep hinders your weight loss?

Personally, I get between 5.5-6.5 hours every night. It's bad, I just stay up for no reason. I want to start aiming for 7-7.5 but I'm wondering if anyone can tell me if they've noticed a change in their progress once they started trying to get more sleep?

I don't know if its an easy thing to notice but sleep is important and apparently it does affect your weightloss success.

Read the article on Seratonin on nutrition world. I keep banging on about the articles on that site but most people are not reading them. Its their loss. the information in those articles is so relevant and useful to weightloss.

Anyway yes i can get into bad sleep habits too. Make yourself go to bed earlier. If you are spending too much time on the internet in the evening it can make falling asleep harder and then if you have to get up in the morning, you will be tired. Tiredness adds stress to your body and stress is bad for weightloss.

Also as the article points out when we are tired we tend to want to eat high carb low nutrition foods. I have noticed that though i never actually made the connection before reading about it.

Can you please provide a link? Thanks!

I have a terrible time with impulse control when I'm too tired. I am much more likely to go spend money or go crazy with eating when I'm sleep deprived. On top of that I wuss out on exercise and use sugar/carbs to provide a boost of energy which add that all up and lack of sleep is terrible for weight loss - in my experience!

Yes, I keep a chart from Fitbit that shows how much I sleep. I do see a correlation between my level of physical activity and my sleep. I have a lot of sleep issues. If I don't sleep much (under 7 hours) I tend to not move around much.

I think that if I sleep more I am more rested and can be more active which tires me out so I am able to sleep more.

On the other hand if sleep gets interrupted it is just the opposite. I am too tired to be very active so I don't get tired out which then makes it hard to sleep.

I do find that the more active I am the more calories I burn and I lose faster.

google nutrition world and then look up big issues or whatever it is and then understanding our bodies. I have always figured it wasn't hard to google. It will take you there.

Oh my mistake its nutrition wonderland. sorry.

http://nutritionwonderland.com

Neuroscience being one of the only things I actually know a lot about, I can tell you that your mileage will vary greatly on sleep duration.
Serotonin production is dependent on many complex factors ranging from what you eat to how you view yourself and others. The quality of sleep is generally more important than the duration, though it's hard to get quality sleep if you sleep only a few hours each night.
The big thing where sleep helps you for weight loss is increased anabolism. "sleep induced surge of ATP production and the decrease in P-AMPK levels set the stage for increased anabolic processes and provide insight into the restorative biosynthetic processes occurring during sleep" Dworak M. et al

There's no question that lack of sleep is related to a number of health issues and weight gain is definitely one of them. I've read a number of articles on it, none of which I can recall now but I've read enough to know that it's undisputed fact that getting enough sleep is vital to good health.

When I sought therapy a few years ago it was one of the first questions the therapist asked me. "Tell me about your sleep." And now recently I've been visiting a nutritional therapist and it was also one of the first questions she asked me as well.

I try to get at least 7hrs but I'm much happier when I sleep a full 8hrs. If I sleep any less than 7 then the day that follows always trips me up. Your body is either requiring rest or it is requiring energy. If you don't give it enough rest it will for more energy for sure (food!) and what's the biggest thing it craves? Carbs! For people who are trying to diet through carb restriction this can prove to be a huge obstacle, but even those of us who don't abide by macronutrient restrictions know that it feels pretty yucky to load up on starch all day long!

This morning for example kind of sucks for me. I'm normally a good sleeper but I have a deadline that's giving me some angst and I only got 5hrs of sleep. I'm dragging my feet, and haven't even done my morning stretches yet and I've already craved a pre-breakfast snack lol. Plus it's raining so I have no real motivation to go exercise... I'm still in my jammies ugh! I'm very affected by the lack of sleep. You've been doing it long enough to adapt somewhat but your body will thank you if you do try to nourish yourself with more sleep.

No. It's BS.

I find I need less sleep as I have lost weight. I like to get 7 hours but often make do with 5-6.

Part of the reason I get less sleep is to wake up early to work out.

Sleep is good to avoid cravings though. I used to use that trick all the time.

Fancy an evening snack? Go to bed instead.

So true. I find myself in bed a lot earlier to avoid cravings.

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Otherwise, I've read so much on both sides of the aisle. If you're able to make yourself sleep longer, why not just give it a try for say, a month, and see how you're feeling and how your weight loss is going after that month!

I don't feel human unless I've had at least 7 hours of sleep. The next time I get less than that, I'll have to pay attention to see if I feel hungrier. My bet would be yes, because I'm always hungry and snacking when I'm miserable lol

The point should be made that the less you weigh the less sleep you need and the faster you recover from physical activity.
i.e. don't base your sleep off someone who weighs 100 pounds less than you

Do you have some reason for thinking that the amount of sleep you get doesn't affect your leptin/ghrelin balance and that these hormones don't affect your hunger? I thought this was pretty well established, and I have been taking this as a given.

I gotta say this sentence isn't particularly helpful in its present form.
anyone want to have a go at decoding it?

As with everything, we a very individual. When my husband is sleep deprived, he doesn't lose control. When I am sleep deprived, I Do.

But saying it's BS just because it doesn't hold truth for you in making food decisions, does not mean it doesnt affect someone else. And... People differ, somewhat, in how much sleep they need. Which, makes sense as we all are different.

What is dangerous is thinking "what works for me and is my pattern is THE pattern and rule to live by. If it truly worked for everyone, there would be no fat people. And there would not be 50,000 variations of dieting with all of them working or not working to similar degrees.

I will end by saying that getting enough sleep is the number one thing that will make me or break me for having a good day with making healthy decisions.
My husband has learned that about me long ago... He now encourages me to get enough sleep.

Wow, great responses everyone! Thanks :) I actually got a good 7 hrs last night and it's weird I actually felt more tired today than I usually do. Could have been due to an especially difficult gym session last night or just a coincidence. I'm going to continue with the 7 hrs thing especially because I'd like to start spending about 30minutes in the morning before work walking on my treadmill and there's no way I'd have enough energy for that on only 5hrs.

I typically sleep well through the night so I don't think quality of sleep is too much of an issue for me but I think an extra 1 or 2 hrs will probably benefit me in the long run.