Not getting enough nightly sleep will make it harder for you to lose weight and keep it off.
But there is a simple solution.
Read on and I’ll explain.
Why Do We Even Need Sleep?
Dr. Matthew Walker offers an eye-opening, fascinating explanation on why we sleep and the profound consequences of sleep deprivation in his text Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams.
As. Dr. Walker eloquently explains, sleep science has come a long way in recent years.
The scientific and medical communities have always told us to get a good night’s sleep.
But neuroscience is now revealing that sleep plays a much bigger role in many areas of our lives that was not understood before.
The recommended amount of sleep for the average adult is 7–9 hours every night.
According to the National Sleep Foundation, there is a small portion of the world population that needs less than 5 hours of sleep without experience adverse effects.
These people are called “short sleepers” and they make up only about 1% of the global population.
Short sleepers have a specific genetic makeup that causes them to be able to function optimally on such a small amount of sleep.
For the rest of us, it’s important to prioritize getting adequate sleep quality and quantity as often as we can.
In this article I’m going to tell you why your lack of sleep can make it difficult for you to lose weight, keep it off and stay overweight forever.
Sleep Deprivation Keeps You Fat
Not getting enough sleep plays a few roles in why it makes it so hard for you to lose weight.
In order to lose weight we need to burn more calories during the day than we eat.
This can be done by being active and exercising, eating less or a combination of the two.
Sleep makes both of these activities difficult.
Let me explain
Lack of Sleep Makes You Hungrier
The two primary hormones that govern our appetite are called ghrelin and leptin.
Ghrelin makes you feel hungry and crave sweet and fatty foods.
Leptin is responsible for making you feel full and satisfied when you eat.
It stands to reason that if you want to lose weight, you’d want these two hormones be kept in check.
Well, when you don’t get enough sleep, your body produces greater amounts of ghrelin and less leptin.
This means that not only do you crave sweets and fatty foods, you don’t feel full or satisfied and you are much more likely to overeat high calorie foods.
Lack of Sleep Reduces Activity and Exercise Effectiveness
Most people wouldn’t argue that not getting enough sleep makes you feel tired and sluggish throughout the day.
Failing to get enough sleep makes you less likely to engage in exercise and makes you generally move slower.
When you do exercise in an under-slept state, your energy expenditure is significantly reduced and you burn fewer calories than you would if you had gotten plenty of sleep the night before.
Also, when you don’t meet your sleep needs, you tend to move less throughout the entire day.
Many of the calories that you burn during your waking hours are from what is called Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis, or NEAT.
A lot of times you don’t even realize when you are engaging in NEAT.
NEAT is simply any activity that you do that is not formal or intentional exercise.
NEAT activities include:
- Fidgeting
- Tapping your foot
- Standing and sitting
- Walking while talking on the phone
- Being physically animated when you talk
- Laughing, smiling and singing.
There’s a lot more NEAT that you do during the day but I think you get the idea.
It’s clear that there is a direct association between getting adequate amounts of sleep and the ability to lose weight and get in shape.
Sleep Makes Weight Loss Easier
Simply stated, when you sleep between 7–9 hours per night on average, your hunger hormones are kept in check.
You tend to have fewer cravings for high calorie junk food and you feel full and satisfied quicker and more often when you eat.
When you get enough sleep for your individual needs, your exercise sessions are more productive and you burn more calories during the day by simply moving more.
The combination of eating fewer calories and burning more calories through exercise and NEAT makes it much easier to lose weight and get in shape.
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash
How to Fix Your Sleep Problem
Most of us have busy lifestyles and full schedules.
Many people cite those two reasons as an excuse as to why they don’t get enough sleep.
Well, surveys have shown that there are other factors at play that are responsible for people getting less sleep than they need.
Here is a list of some of those factors. See if any apply to you.
· Watching TV in the evening
· Scrolling social media at bedtime
· Staying out late
· Consuming caffeine late in the day
· Poor stress management
There are some simple ways to help you get more sleep and start to feel the benefits of being well rested.
Here’s some strategies that you can start implementing today:
· Watch less TV in the evening
· Don’t look at your phone at bedtime
· Set a bedtime and stick to it
· Reduce caffeine and stop drinking it earlier
I’ve studied and written extensively on this topic and I’ve linked to several of my articles below on the consequences of failing to sleep enough.
I’ve also written on how to improve the quality and quantity of your sleep.
Check out my articles below and give some serious thought to what I explain in the posts.
By making sleep a priority in your daily routine, you can experiencing more weight loss quicker and easier, starting today.
You can also find me here on Twitter/X, where I share my work and the work of my fellow writers, authors and creators.
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