Sleep Is Overrated: The Truth About Weight And Sleep
By admin
Who needs sleep? Sleep is for wusses or people that don’t have a life. Sleep is for people who don’t have passion and goals.
Who am I kidding…
Sleep sounds amazing right now.
Since I broke my leg, I haven’t had much of it. I’ve slept through the night a grand total of 3-4 times over the past 4 weeks.
The other nights, I’m tossing and turning to get comfortable. Or, my leg/ankle is burning and keeping me awake.
What’s with that? It doesn’t bother me all day, but come 2 a.m. and I am aware I have a broken leg. As if I could forget.
My friends say it’s great prep for when Dan and I have a family. I say it’s crap. After 4 weeks of shitty sleep, it’s affecting me. My mood, my concentration, my productivity and my body.
Poor Dan is getting bitchy snaps and unnecessary reactions.
We’ve all heard that sleep affects our body’s ability to lose weight, but is that true? Or is sleep overrated when it comes to burning off the calories?
I mean, less sleep means more movement after all. I can’t tell you how many times I toss, turn, walk around my condo and use my finger to scroll through Facebook. That’s a workout, people.
Doesn’t that mean, I’m being MORE proactive on my journey to 6-pack abs?
Just in case you can’t tell… I’m joking.
I go to bed each night praying I’ll sleep like a baby. I know my body needs the sleep for recovery and for a strong metabolism.
But just how does sleep affect your metabolism?
Sleep And Your Metabolism
I’m not satisfied knowing that sleep affects my body composition. I want to know the specifics. I want to know WHY. Don’t you?
A study from the University of Chicago found that lack of sleep can affect your body’s fat burning potential by 55%. What!?
Doesn’t that peak your interest?
That study found that people who slept 8 hours, lost around 6 pounds over 14 days from cutting calories. Of that, 3.1 pounds was body fat.
After the 14 days, they decreased their sleep to 5.5 hours. The subjects lost weight, but 5.3 pounds of the 6.6 pounds was muscle mass. Only 1.3 pounds was body fat.
Not quite the goal. Especially since muscle aids in weight loss. Lose muscle, decrease your metabolism.
Hunger Controlling Hormones
Ghrelin.
Ghrelin is a hunger hormone produced by specialized cells lining the stomach and pancreas. It’s job is to stimulate appetite and increase food intake.
When you have hanger pains, thank your ghrelin.
The same study found that by cutting sleep back by 2 hours, ghrelin levels rose from 75 ng/L to 84 ng/L.
With this change, metabolism (decreased energy expenditure) decreases. Even while dieting, it may not be enough to lose weight.
That is if you’re able to stick to your clean eating, decreased calories. Increased Ghrelin = increased hunger pains.
Sugary food cravings increase. Before you know it, there are 3 donuts on your plate instead of eggs and fruit.
Leptin.
Then there’s Leptin.
Leptin is our friend. He tells us when it’s time to place the fork on the table and walk way.
He has control over Ghrelin, letting us know when enough is enough.
But sleep has a crappy affect over this guy too…
Lack of sleep, makes Leptin levels plummet. Making us lose our self control and going back for just one more bite, okay 5 more bites.
Between these two appetite hormones, it’s clear sleep has more affect over our physique than we want.
Food For Thought
Perhaps it’s not that we’re a country that loves to overeat, but we’re just overtired. We’re overeating to compensate for our exhaustion.
Could everyone have a case of sleep induced metabolic syndrome?
This is just me thinking out loud.
- Two thirds (66%) of Americans are in a state of sleep deprivation.
- 74% of Americans are overweight or obese.
Those numbers are close. Is it a coincidence, or perhaps a relationship? A cause and effect situation?
Again, just thinking.
Your Decisions On Little Sleep
Being aware of my sleep quality has helped keep me on track with solid nutrition. I have been aware when cravings hit. I’ve asked myself several times, “do I want that or is that my 5 hours of sleep talking?”
Here’s what crappy sleep can make you do if you don’t catch yourself…
- Sleep dulls activity in the frontal lobe. This is the decision making part of your brain. If dulled, you’re likely to make poor decisions. Not just with food, but life.
- Your brain becomes tired and sad (figuratively speaking). It wants something that spark a feel good reaction. Sugar does just that which is why sugar cravings are high.
- A study in the American Journal Of Clinical Nutrition, found that people sleep deprived are prone to late night snacking and meals. Leading to increased calories and weight.
- Serving sizes are bigger for those that aren’t sleeping. Bigger portions = more calories = more body fat. Suddenly your stomach is bigger than your eyes. Your plate is full yet you just can’t control yourself.
Sleep Isn’t Overrated & And There Are No Excuses
We all want to believe we’re super-human. Or that we’re different.
You’re not. At least not when it comes to sleep.
We all need it, and even if you’re one of those people that think “I can run off just 5 hours of sleep”. You can’t.
Your mind might think you’re fine because you’re so used to it that you feel wonderful. But there is more to the story and your body is taking a beating.
Think you can get by during the week with minimal sleep and catch up on the weekends? It doesn’t work like that.
The body needs consistent rest and doens’t bank sleep hours. Sad.
Are you doing everything to try and get results from exercise and nutrition but seeing no results? It could very well be that you’re overtired.
Like everything else in this world, if you make it important you can find a way to get 6-8 hours of sleep.
The next episode can wait until tomorrow. The email can wait until tomorrow. Take control and challenge yourself to a full week of sleep, good sleep.
*The only people that have an excuse are those with babies. Of course, little humans make it harder to get a night of restful sleep. Well, and those with injuries. Ha!