We all must get a night of good sleep every night. If we sleep well, we feel refreshed, energized, and prepared to conquer the day. But if we have poor sleep, we feel fatigued, sluggish, and irritable. And if we are chronically sleep-deprived, we slowly develop daytime sleepiness and it hampers our ability to function. 

Adults should get between seven and nine hours of pillow time each night. Yet the typical working person sleeps just six hours and half-hour per night during the workweek. Adequate sleep restores us physically, mentally, and emotionally. It facilitates learning, helps us concentrate and retain information, and offers our brains a much-needed rest from the hustle and bustle of our hectic lives. Research shows that sufficient sleep plays a crucial role in weight management and decreasing the danger of metabolic disorders like insulin resistance and diabetes.

The connection between sleep and weight

Over the past several decades, the amount of sleep people get has steadily decreased due to many reasons such as long work hours, social life, family responsibilities, etc. But at the same time, the average BMI (Body mass index) of people has increased, reflecting a trend toward higher body weights and elevated rates of obesity. In response to those trends, many researchers began to hypothesize about potential connections between weight and sleep. Numerous studies have suggested that restricted sleep quantity and poor sleep quality may cause metabolic disorders, weight gain, and an increased risk of obesity and other chronic health conditions.

Can lack of sleep increase appetite?

One common theory about the connection between weight and sleep involves how sleep affects appetite. While we regularly consider appetite as simply a matter of stomach grumbling, it’s actually controlled by neurotransmitters, which are chemical messengers that allow neurons to speak with each other. The neurotransmitters ghrelin and leptin are thought to be central to appetite. Ghrelin promotes hunger, and leptin contributes to feeling full. The body naturally increases and reduces the amount of those neurotransmitters throughout the day, signaling the requirement to consume calories. A lack of sleep may affect the body’s regulation of those neurotransmitters. In one study, men who got four hours of sleep had increased ghrelin and decreased leptin compared to people who got ten hours of sleep. This dysregulation of ghrelin and leptin may result in increased appetite and diminished feelings of fullness in the sleep-deprived folks. 

Does sleep increase metabolism?

Metabolism- a chemical action within which the body converts what we eat and drink into energy needed to survive. All of our activities, from breathing to exercising and everything in between, are a component of metabolism. While activities like exercise can temporarily increase metabolism, sleep cannot. Many studies have shown that sleep deprivation due to work or sleep disorders commonly ends up in metabolic dysregulation. Poor sleep is related to increased stress, blood sugar intolerance, and insulin resistance. Over time eating more and sleeping less may disrupt circadian rhythms, resulting in weight gain.

How is sleep connected with physical activity?

Losing sleep may result in having less energy for exercise and physical activity. Feeling tired can even make sports and exercising less safe, especially activities like weightlifting and or those requiring balance. It’s well-known that exercise is important to maintaining weight loss and overall health. Getting regular exercise can improve sleep quality, especially if that exercise involves natural light. While even taking a brief walk during the day may help improve sleep, more activity can have a more dramatic impact. 

Sleep and Obesity

In children and adolescents, the link between not getting enough sleep and an increased risk of obesity is well-established, although the rationale for this link remains being debated. Insufficient sleep in children can result in metabolic irregularities as discussed earlier, skipping breakfast within the mornings, and increased intake of sweet, salty, fatty, and starchy foods.

While an outsized analysis of past studies suggests that adult folks getting six hours of sleep in the nighttime are more likely to be diagnosed as obese, it’s challenging for these studies to work out cause and effect. Obesity itself can increase the danger of developing conditions that interfere with sleep, like apnea, depression, and other sleep disorders. 

The solution

The term sleep hygiene means engaging in practices that support a night of good sleep. This is very important for everybody, but it’s especially critical if you are managing sleep concerns. Sleep hygiene involves things like setting a sleep schedule, creating a bedtime routine and practicing healthy habits during the day. These steps are also important when you are trying to manage your weight concerns as well: 

• Exercise: Exercising may improve sleep quality in people affected by sleep disorders. It's also been shown to cut back symptoms in patients with obstructive sleep apnea, independent of weight loss. Also, exercising outside exposes you to natural light, promoting a healthy sleep-wake cycle.
• Find a mattress that works for you: Your mattress must allow for correct alignment of your spine and balanced contact pressure between your body and also the mattress. Mattress preferences vary from person to person. Research has shown that weight affects the sort of mattress one may find most comfortable. Livpure Sleep offers a variety of mattress options to suit everyone’s needs- right from memory foam, latex mattress, hybrid mattress, high resilience foam mattress, etc. Buy the one which suits you and sleep tension-free with 100 nights of risk-free trial and upto 10 years of warranty. A good pillow is also essential additionally- to keep away from chronic neck and shoulder pain. Add comfortable pillows to your mattress from Livpure Sleep and have no trouble sleeping anymore! 
• Select foods carefully: Diet and nutrition are components of sleep hygiene, but sleep loss can make healthy eating tougher. Taking steps to take care of a diet may improve sleep. As an example, a diet high in carbohydrates may decrease your ability to go to deep sleep. Another study found that eating within 30 minutes to an hour of bedtime resulted in poorer sleep patterns.

Conclusion

The sleep loss-weight gain cycle is a difficult one to breakthrough. It’s important to figure out with a doctor or involve a sleep specialist if you are experiencing poor quality sleep that might be associated with weight and vice versa. For starters, you can start with healthy sleep hygiene at home, and if you do not find any changes, then go discuss with your doctor.