By Alvin Neo WC
How does the lack of sleep affect us? And how does it have any sort of impact on weight loss? Psychologically it does. When we do not get enough sleep, we tend to be like walking zombies at work. The tendency to reach out for the 6th cup of sweetened coffee or the 4th piece of donut for quick energy is very high. These provides a quick energy bolt which lasts a while before you end up reaching for that box of cookies, these also provide a quick bolt to your calorie consumption!
Do not underestimate calories when you are hungry or tired. The small cookies and snacks consumed accumulate VERY fast. Your coffee probably contains sugar which adds up relatively quick. A simple 8 hour work day could end up having you consuming close to 1500 calories just in snacks trying to keep yourself alert. Your waistline will be in serious trouble.
There is also many studies which talk on how the lack of sleep could affect our blood pressure.
Why Does The Lack Of Sleep Cause this?
Scientifically speaking, there is also a rationale on why additional calories are consumed. 3 hormones are in charge of this. Leptin, Ghrelin and Cortisol. The lack of sleep causes the hormones levels to react and cause a larger appetite to be stimulated. Elaborated below:
Leptin: There are researchers who think that the increase of Leptin may affect the release of Ghrelin mentioned below. What Leptin does is that it signals your brain that your body currently have enough energy stores such as body fat. This hormone is in charge of decreasing our appetite. When you do not have sufficient sleep, the levels of this hormone drops, resulting in our cravings for food.
Ghrelin: This is basically a hormone in charge of increasing our appetite. It is produced by the stomach and it gives our brain signals to let us know we are hungry, which causes an increase an appetite and feeling 'hungry'. Normally this hormone level shoots up before food, which tells us it's time to eat, and goes down immediately after food, for approximately 3 hours.
Cortisol: This hormone level elevates when a person is physically or psychologically stressed. An increase of this hormone will signal the body to consume large quantities of food to compensate for the energy loss and the repairing of the body. The lack of sleep results in an increase of Cortisol which is responsible for the huge amounts of food being consumed, and this additional food is being stored as fat rather than used to replace any sort of energy stores.
So basically the lack of proper and sufficient sleep will cause us to crave for food, and chances are the cravings are going to win when the temptations around you are too strong.
The article above results in in many people asking "Why cant I lose weight?"
So How Much Is Enough Sleep?
Most of us are not getting enough sleep every day, 7-8 hours a day is being recommended, but the average gets probably gets approximately 6 hours a day. So, how much sleep is actually needed? Is it really what everyone says? 7-8 hours? Learn more about it in My Report!