How does sleep affect your weight?
I don't know about you, but whenever I have a bad night's sleep, the very next day I am ravenous. I want to eat all the food — and typically the food I want to eat is not the healthiest! (Hello venti caramel macchiato — my go-to when I need a pick-me-up!)
If you’ve ever felt the same way and wondered why, I’m going to clue you in to what is happening.
What’s happening to your body and when you don’t sleep, and why does it make you feel hungry?
When we are sleep deprived, our body thinks that there must be some sort of danger. (“Why would we not be sleeping if we're tired?? Something is wrong!”) It's not natural for us, humans, to be sleep deprived!
The Hunger Games: GHRELIN VS. LEPTIN
Our body wants to increase our hunger so we'll load up on calories and be able to “flee the scene”. To put it scientifically: hormonally, our body increases ghrelin, (the hormone that stimulates hunger), and decreases leptin (the hormone that tells us we're satiated). And as a result, we have an increased appetite.
Sleep deprivation leads to unhealthy eating habits!
Research also shows that when we're sleep deprived, we tend to gravitate to unhealthy foods — foods that are energy-dense. These are foods that are high in sugar, high in fat, and high in carbohydrates — which can all lead to weight gain.
And how about this: an MRI study of the brain showed that when we're sleep deprived, our brain reacts more favorably to unhealthy foods. So now what??
Sleep Deprivation Slows Down Your Metabolism
To top it all off, sleep deprivation impacts our metabolism by slowing it down. So we don't process our food as efficiently.
No wonder research tells us that sleep deprivation leads to both weight gain and obesity in adults and also in children (we’ll get to that in a minute). A study of 68,000 nurses over the span of 16 years found that the nurses who slept less than 5 hours on average per night gained 30 more pounds over the course of the study, compared to nurses who slept more than 7 hours per night.
We also know that 50% of adults with sleep apnea are overweight. The excess fat tissue in the throat tends to close the throat when one is lying flat and sleeping — and for overweight individuals, this leads to apnea episodes.
What about our children?
As I mentioned, this doesn't just pertain to adults. It also affects our children. Research tells us that infants who sleep less than 12 hours per night are twice as likely to become obese by 3 years old. And 3 year olds who sleep less than 10.5 hours per night are 45% more likely to be obese as adolescents. These statistics are alarming and something we must pay attention to for the wellbeing of our children.
Let’s take a look at some stats on obesity in the U.S.
Obesity in the U.S.
Unfortunately, obesity is all too common in the U.S.
Obesity impacts your health
Increased risk of high blood pressure
Increased risk of type 2 diabetes
Increased risk of coronary heart disease
Increased risk of stroke
Increased risk of mental illness (such as depression and anxiety)
Increase of body pain — and difficulty with physical activities in general
Let’s Get You Sleeping!
If you're working on controlling your weight, I urge you first to improve your sleep.
If you need some tips, you can read more articles on improving sleep in my sleep blog. I have a ton of great resources. Or if you're interested in working with someone one on one, I would love to help. You can schedule a free 30 minute discovery call right here →.
As always, I am here for you and for your well being.
Sweet dreams.
Kelly Murray is a certified sleep coach and an award-winning pediatric sleep consultant based in Chicago offering sleep coaching services nationwide.