Gabe Yanez
Let’s kick this off by making one thing very clear: Health shouldn’t be boiled down to just weight loss.
“Slow progress is better than no progress.”
More sleep. That is all.
I know: we’ve said it before, sleep is important. But just how important is it as it relates specifically to weight loss? Let’s look at the science. According to this study, acute sleep deprivation increases food consumption in both fasting and fed states. This means that following a night of very poor sleep, you are more likely to snack and eat bigger portions than if you got a proper eight hours of sleep.
Not too much of a shocker there, but obviously if your intention is to lose weight, bigger portions and constant snacking is not going to get you there any sooner.
But wait… there’s more!
According to this study, 8 days of sleep restriction was shown to spontaneously increase total daily caloric intake by 559 calories! That’s an entire large-muffin-worth of calories! (I didn’t realize muffins were so high in calories until I googled it.)
So what is actually happening that is causing the participants in these studies to overeat if they don’t get adequate Zzzzz? It may very well have something todo with the association between sleep and hormone levels. You see, sleep restriction is also associated with decreased leptin & increased ghrelin.
Leptinis the hormone that makes you feel full and ghrelin is the hormone that makes you feel hungry. It makes sense then that these hormones getting thrown out of whack may lead to disrupted hunger, satiety, & energy expenditure. But wait…THERE’S MORE!
This study’s results showed an association between poor sleep efficiency and decreased levels of CCK, which is another hormone that helps us feel satiated along with leptin. Sleep efficiency here refers to the percentage of time participants were actually sleeping relative to how long they were in bed for. So basically, if two people spent the same amount of time in bed, but one person scrolled on their phone and then tossed and turned before eventually falling asleep, that person would feel hungrier the next day than someone that read a book and quickly fell asleep after some light reading.
The solution? No surprise here, but make sure you are prioritizing sleep. Whether weight loss is top of mind for you or not, sleep is important! And if you are trying to shed a few pounds, keep in mind that the more you sleep, the easier it will be for you to reach that goal!
Tonic Shots
- Another way to promote better sleep? Try this sleep mask!
- Dr. Peter Attia and Layne Norton, Ph.D talk all things weight loss, nutrition, muscle gain, and more on this podcast.
- After you upgrade your sleep habits, make sure you upgrade your wallet with this sleek product!
- Light therapy can be a powerful tool to optimize health. Check out the cool gadgets this brand offers!
