Key Take Out
When we sleep enough hours and have a good quality stretch, we end up eating lesser quantities and selecting better quality food, thus making us shed some of the excess weight we have gained, while restoring our overall health and wellbeing.
Spring announces the start of good weather, outdoor activities, and longer days. Many of us start thinking of ways to tighten these few extra centimeters we might have put on during the cold winter months. But do you know how good quality sleep can make you shed weight?
Sleep Does Weight Wonders
A few years ago while studying to optimize my sleep, I got to understand the complex mechanisms linking both the quantity and the quality of sleep to why I was eating more quantities and favoring fewer quality foods. This was a big discovery for me, especially since I used to eat late at night, get discomfort during the night – leading to lower quality sleep (although I was getting the full quantity I needed), and wake up groggy the next morning, wondering why I would be so hungry and craving sugar and carbs. Luckily, being aware of how sleep controls certain hormones in my body, I was able to fix this, sleep way better, wake up more refreshed… and, I lost weight effortlessly in the process!
Hunger Hormones
Sleep affects our hormones. Specifically, the duo power hormones that regulate our hunger and satiety: ghrelin and leptin, respectively. To put things simply: when ghrelin signals to us that we’re hungry, we eat. Then, leptin comes in and tells us that we’re full, so we stop eating. But when we lack good sleep, this balance is interrupted: we experience a surge in ghrelin telling us we’re hungry, we’re hungry, we’re hungry… while leptin plummets and stops signaling to us that we’re full. Thus, we continue eating more quantities. This will make it more difficult for us to fall asleep at night and will elevate our stress-related cortisol levels. The result? We get into a stressful sleep-deprivation and overeating cycle, leading to weight gain.
Poor Decision-Making
When we sleep less than we need, our brain is more likely to make poor decisions in general. Sleep deprivation dulls activity in the frontal lobe; the area of the brain associated with inhibition and our ability to control our impulses. We start craving more rewards and it becomes difficult to manage temptations. Sleeping too little prompts us to eat bigger servings, and we risk ending up with a whole bunch of junk added onto our plate – not to mention an increase in unhealthy snacks. One study from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that when people were deprived of quality sleep, late-night snacking increased, and they were more likely to choose energy-dense high-carbohydrate foods packed with a lot of calories and sure to spike insulin in the body. Another study from the University of Chicago found that sleep-deprived participants chose snacks with twice as much fat as those who slept eight good hours per night. Obviously, sound decision-making is needed, as it has a significant impact when we’re surrounded by tasty food!
Sleep More. Weigh Less
I lost weight sleeping, and so can you. While the list is long and will depend on many individual factors, these 5 tips worked wonders for me and many of my family, friends, and the people I’m sleep coaching:
- Spring is here. Catch about half an hour of sun in the morning (before noontime). This will reset your circadian rhythm and prompt you to go to bed earlier at night. Add to it some form of physical activity or exercise, to optimize the sun’s effect and increase melatonin production inside your cells for a better night.
- Take it easy on beverages that disrupt sleep. Limit caffeine consumption to no later than 3:00 pm, as caffeine beverages that are taken later can rob you of hours of sleep. Avoid alcohol at night, as alcohol robs you of good quality sleep.
- Napping for only 20 minutes during the day (after lunch but not later) will increase your energy, especially if you didn’t sleep well the previous night. Napping longer than 20 minutes will backfire and risk keeping you awake at night. Set your alarm to 20 minutes and just close your eyes and breathe.
- Staying up late may be the norm, whether it be for socializing, working, gaming, etc… But it is equally important to protect your sleep by blocking specific nighttime for it, without distractions. Each hour of sleep that you lose is an hour where ghrelin increases your appetite while leptin shies away and keeps you eating longer the next day.
- Favor protein-rich food at night and keep it at least 3 hours away from your bedtime.
To optimize your sleep and lose some weight, give these five tips a try. Start tonight, don’t wait for tomorrow! As you start to witness positive results, nominate yourself as the “Sleep Ambassador” and share your knowledge and new habits with your family and close circle of friends.
“Sleep is the golden chain that ties health and our bodies together.” Thomas Dekker
