Why sleep matters when it comes to weight loss?
Sleep is an important modifiable factor that can have a profound effect on people’s health. One study found that insufficient sleep was linked with a higher risk of obesity and an increased waist size
People who were less than 8 hours a night, even though it doesn’t mean they’re going through 5-7-night cycles per day, reported a greater BMI.
Another study found that it doesn’t matter if the participants go into that immediately 18 hours of not getting any sleep or went into that after accumulating 19 hours of sleep deprivation, they all had increased levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin.
This occurs because when you’re sleep deprived your body starts to ration its energy and your mind thinks it needs to find more energy.
Let’s start exploring why sleep matters when it comes to weight loss. First, we’ll see what is the sleep and weight loss relationship?
The Relationship Between Sleep and Weight Loss
Sleep is a highly complex and important part of our biology. When we are asleep, we are not consciously aware of our actions or thoughts. We do not remember them when we are awake. We are unaware of the decisions we make while we are asleep.
Sleep and Obesity
Sleep is a part of biological processes that regulate appetite, metabolism, stress, and hormone levels. When we are asleep, our hormones are regulated by the sleep-wake cycle.
The sleep-wake cycle is regulated by the circadian clock, which is controlled by light, heat, and day length.
During sleep, our body temperature decreases, causing our brain to slow down. This helps slow down the metabolism and release hormones that help with appetite, metabolism, and stress.
When we are awake, our metabolism increases, causing our body temperature to increase.
How Does Sleep Help to Reduce Weight?
Now the query is how does bad sleep affect your metabolism? Sleep helps to regulate hormones such as leptin, ghrelin, insulin, and cortisol.
These hormones play an important role in the regulation of appetite and metabolism.
Sleep helps to regulate the amount of energy we need. Sleep May Help You Lose Weight more than you think.
When we are asleep, our body is in a relatively inactive state, where our brain is not working as hard to stay alert.
When we are awake, our body is in a higher-stimulation state, where our brain is working to stay alert.
Why Weight Loss is Harder When You are Sleep-Deprived?
When you are sleep-deprived, your body is using more energy to maintain itself. This causes your body to be “hungrier” and use more energy.
When your body is hungry, your brain tries to get you to eat. This causes you to eat more, which makes you feel hungrier and causes you to eat more.
Combatting Poor Sleep With Exercise
Exercise can help people who lack energy and have poor sleep. When you lack energy, it can be hard to get motivated to exercise.
Exercise can also help people who have poor sleep because it helps to regulate your sleep cycle and to balance out your hormones. It can help you to avoid over-eating and can help you reduce your stress.
The Best Time to Sleep for Weight Loss
A study in the Journal of Sleep Research found the best time to sleep to lose weight people who are trying to lose weight should try to sleep for 7 to 9 hours.
The researchers also found that people who slept for 7 to 9 hours, lost more weight than people who slept for 6 hours or less.
Afternoon Sleep – Good or Bad?
Some may ask that afternoon sleep is good or bad for weight loss? Well, afternoon sleep is not necessarily a bad thing for weight loss.
The reason for this is that your body has a natural biological rhythm. This is known as your circadian rhythm.
As you get older, you will start to develop a “free-running” circadian rhythm. This is when your body is not regulated by the time of day.
During the day, your body is regulated by the time of day. If you wake up at 7 am, you will feel more tired at 3 pm. If you wake up at 7 pm, you will feel more tired at 3 am.
Let’s have a look at a few tips to improve your sleep…
Tips for Improving Your Sleep
To improve your sleep, you need to do the following:
- Be consistent with your sleep cycle. Sleep when the sun is at its highest point in the sky.
- If you are experiencing insomnia, it is best to try to go to sleep and wake up at the same time each day. If you are struggling to fall asleep, try using a relaxation exercise before bedtime.
- Make sure you are not exposed to blue light before bedtime. This is because you will not be able to fall asleep if you are exposed to artificial light.
- Try to avoid caffeine after 2 pm. Caffeine can interfere with your sleep cycle.
- Make sure to drink enough amount of water, stay hydrated. Research shows that people who drink a lot of water before bedtime can have better sleep.
- Make sure you are getting enough sleep in general. People who sleep longer, have better sleep and tend to lose more weight.
- Get enough exercise. Exercise is really helpful in improving sleep quality.
- Do not eat just before going to bed. This can cause problems with your sleep cycle.
- Avoid alcohol before bedtime.
There are a lot of reasons why sleep matters when it comes to weight loss. It also helps to maintain the overall health balance of the body as well.
Now let’s sum up the discussion on this note…
The Bottom Line
Sleep is one of the most important factors when it comes to weight loss and maintenance.
Poor sleep can lead to obesity, which can lead to disease and other health issues.
Sleep deprivation can also contribute to depression, stress, and anxiety. If you feel like you are struggling to lose weight, try to improve your sleep and try to incorporate more exercise into your daily routine.
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