Expert reveals how sleep loss can cause you to gain weight
- 작성일2020/04/20 12:48
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According to Australian nutritionist Kathleen Alleaume, sleep-deprived people may be hungrier than those who get enough rest. Picture: istockSource:istock
When it comes to achieving and maintaining a svelte figure, the debate often revolves around eating and movement.
While the notion of “eat less, move more” is partly true, it’s not always that simple.
Between juggling career, family and exercising, we often neglect ourselves of the most nurturing ritual our body needs every night: sleep.
According to the country’s renowned sleep advocacy organisation, the Sleep Health Foundation, sleep is considered the “third pillar of health” alongside exercise and diet.
Yet, it’s estimated that 7.4 million Australian adults are sleep-deprived.
And when you consider that the statistic for obesity is also rising, it makes sense why the connection between sleep and your waistline is not a coincidence.
* SLEEP CONTROLS YOUR DIET
Lack of sleep, regardless of the cause, can undo the benefits of dieting, according to a review published in British Journal of Sports Medicine, which examined what happens metabolically when an individual is sleep-deprived.
Results showed that people who regularly slept less than seven hours per night were more likely to have higher body mass indexes (BMI) and develop obesity than those who slept more.
Similar findings, published earlier this year, showed that sleep deprivation and recovery from sleep deprivation (i.e. sleeping in on the weekend) affected our eating habits.
Studies have shown people who sleep for less than seven hours a night are more likely to have a higher body mass index. Picture: istockSource:istock
There are several possible ways that sleep deprivation could make you fat.
People who don’t get enough sleep may take in more calories, simply because they are awake longer and have more opportunities to eat.
A lack of sleep also disrupts the balance of key hormones that control appetite, so sleep-deprived people may be hungrier than those who get enough rest each night.
Studies have shown that experimental sleep restriction is associated with decreased insulin sensitivity – a hormone whose job is to determine whether blood sugar gets used for immediate energy or is stored as fat.
Insulin also promotes the release of leptin (an appetite-controlling hormone), so if your fat cells are less insulin sensitive, you will make less leptin, which means you don’t feel as satisfied after you eat. In other words, you eat more.
The more sensitive you are to insulin, the more resistant insulin becomes, so fats (lipids) are left to circulate in your blood which in turn pumps out more insulin.
Eventually, this excess insulin ends up storing fat in all the wrong places.
Not only does this internal battle of hormones make it nearly impossible to lose weight, it increases the risk of fatty liver disease and type 2 diabetes.
*THE TAKEAWAY
The crux of all this: When we deprive ourselves of sleep, we snack. And this mindless munching is possibly at wrong times of the day.
Shift workers, or those who work into the night, take heart, not all is lost.
Eating well will help you to maintain energy and have long-term benefits, provided you plan ahead.
This may mean eating your main meal at the earlier part of the evening – ideally before you begin the night shift, along with keeping hydrated.
If you can, over the course of the night, steer clear of sugary treats or highly processed foods.
Kathleen Alleaume is an exercise and nutrition scientist and founder of The Right Balance
source: https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/diet/expert-reveals-how-sleep-loss-can-cause-you-to-gain-weight/news-story/000fd457c2bac10951be7d38da11590d