This may be the reason you’re not losing weight (other than your diet, exercise)
You’ve made significant changes to your diet and lifestyle, eliminating croissants, biscuits, and alcohol. You’ve even switched to black coffee and incorporated exercise into your routine. Despite all these efforts, you find yourself struggling to lose those stubborn pounds.
It’s time to explore factors beyond calorie tracking and weekly workouts to uncover the hidden influences on your body’s food metabolism. Scientists are rapidly discovering a multitude of these factors that play a role in how your body processes and utilizes nutrients.
The role of sleep in our overall health and well-being cannot be underestimated. Both the quality and quantity of sleep we receive each night have significant impacts on our well-being.
Insufficient sleep not only makes it harder to carry out our daily activities, but it also takes a toll on our physical and mental states, leaving us susceptible to various health issues.
Moreover, sleep deprivation can even affect our weight, as warned by an expert in the field. Georgia Chilton, senior nutrition manager at Fresh Fitness Food, emphasized that a lack of proper sleep increases the likelihood of weight gain.
In an interview with Express.co.uk, Chilton explained, “Sleep is needed to allow your body to unwind physically and recover from the day’s activities, but also to give your heart and cardiovascular system the opportunity to relax. Waking up groggy and tired can make you less likely to want to head to the gym and make the day ahead seem like an uphill struggle.”
“Poor sleep has been attributed to weight gain,” she added. “It has been suggested that the number of hours of sleep you get each night may influence body weight and metabolism.”
Chilton further discussed a study involving American adults between the ages of 30 and 60, which found that individuals with insufficient sleep had reduced levels of leptin (an appetite hormone that signals fullness) and increased levels of ghrelin (an appetite hormone that signals hunger).
“The observed changes in hormone levels are likely to increase appetite, potentially providing an explanation for the weight gain observed in the participants,” she added.
The study, published in the Plos Medicine journal in 2004, considered sleep durations of five hours or less as low sleep, while a healthy duration was defined as eight hours.
In individuals sleeping less than eight hours (74.4 percent of the sample), increased body mass index (BMI) was proportional to decreased sleep, according to the study.
Short sleep was associated with low leptin, with a predicted 15.5 percent lower leptin for habitual sleep of five hours versus eight hours, and high ghrelin, with a predicted 14.9 percent higher ghrelin for nocturnal sleep of five hours versus eight hours, independent of BMI.
Researchers concluded that a combination of insufficient sleep and diet contributed to high obesity rates in Western countries.
“These differences in leptin and ghrelin are likely to increase appetite, possibly explaining the increased BMI observed with short sleep duration. In Western societies, where chronic sleep restriction is common and food is widely available, changes in appetite regulatory hormones with sleep curtailment may contribute to obesity,” according to the study.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends obtaining between seven and nine hours of sleep each night.
To prevent insomnia, experts suggest the following strategies:
- Maintain a consistent sleep schedule by going to bed and waking up at the same time every day.
- Relax for at least one hour before bedtime, engaging in activities such as taking a bath or reading a book.
- Ensure that your sleeping environment is conducive to rest, with a dark and quiet bedroom. You can use curtains, blinds, eye masks, or earplugs if necessary.
- Regularly engage in exercise during the day.
- Ensure your mattress, pillows, and bedding are comfortable.
If these measures do not alleviate sleep problems and you experience sleepless nights persistently over several months, it is advisable to consult with your doctor.
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