|
Lack of sleep has become a global problem in the past decade. Everywhere around the world people are sleeping less. This trend has increased in the recent years starting a viscious cycle of sleep deprivation. Many shrug off lack of sleep and say they will only become irratible. Lack of sleep can also play a role in weight gain.
A person's weight is affected by hormone production. Two hormones in particular are responsible for stimulating and controlling appetite. Ghrelin is the hormone responsible for stimulating your appetite while leptin tells your brain that your body is full and does not need any more food.
Guess what happens to these hormones when you don't get enough shut eye? They are affected in a way that is disastrous to your waist line. When you don't get enough sleep your body responds by producing more appetite inducing Ghrelin hormone. This means that you will not only be tired, but have an increased appetite ast well.
Lack of sleep will make you feel tired and ravenous. This is a result of the decrease of amount of leptin in your system. This turns into a cylce that leads to the less sleep means the more apt you are to gain weight.
Don't think that your hormones have a great effect on the size of your pants? Think about this: there is a link between obesity and lack of sleep. This link is not a nice one. In fact, the link has been found to pair together obesity and lack of sleep in Americans. This link was found by Standford University and the University of Wisconsin.
Now some people might be tempted to conclude that being up longer should mean that you are burning more calories. While this is true, the urge to snack and eat something during the hours that we should be in bed is greater because of the increased production of ghrelin. Plus, since we consume more due to decreased levels of leptin, the calories burned by being awake are more than replenished by the food we eat.
Also take into account that we burn 2/3 of all calories while we are resting. Therefore, only 1/3 of our calories are burned during physical activity and exercise. So just because you are awake doesn't necessarily mean you are burning more calories. It depends on each person and their activity levels.
There is a disastrous majority of overweight Americans today. Obliviously, current diet and exercise programs are not being followed currently. An easy way to help curb a burgeoning waistline is to focus on your sleep time. Try sleeping more to affect your ghrelina and leptin hormones positively. Get comfortable and get some sleep for a trimmer you!
It is very possible that the reason why so many of us fail with our New Year's Resolutions to lose weight is because we continue to not get enough sleep night after night. If you are having trouble seeing results from your diet, ask yourself if you are getting enough sleep and find a way to get more. You will not only feel more refreshed, you may also feel slimmer in the process!
About the author: Peter Kilpton writes exclusively for Regarding Sleep, visit there today for the latest Sleep advice, and while you're there sign up for the free newsletter. Read many more interesting articles on Sleep at: www.resleep.com/articles
This and other unique content sleep articles are available with free reprint rights.
|
|
|
|
