Snooze to Lose

Written by Jenn Giamo

Did you know that your body burns stored fat for fuel while you sleep? If you go to bed earlier (after that last 30 minute walk of course), your body will start doing its fat burning job even sooner. Make sure you eat your last meal at least 2 hours before going to bed...You really want to go to bed a little hungry.

SLEEP CONTROLS YOUR DIET

You don't realize that sleep is the key to being rewarded for all your diet and fitness efforts. About 30 percent of adults don't get enough sleep and it’s not a coincidence that the statistic for obesity is nearly identical to that number.

Not sleeping enough—even less than seven hours of sleep per night—can reduce and undo the benefits of dieting/exercise. A study showed that people who are well rested experienced a 55% more fat loss compared to their sleep deprived friends.

POOR SLEEP CHANGES YOUR FAT CELLS

Think about the last time you had a bad night of sleep. How did you feel when you woke up? Exhausted. Dazed. Confused. Maybe even a little grumpy? It's not just your brain and your body that feel that way—your fat cells do, too!

When your body is sleep-deprived, it can become NSULIN RESISTANT.Insulin is a hormone that moves sugar from the bloodstream into your body's cells to

be used as energy.
When cells become insulin resistant, more sugar remains in the bloodstream and

the body produces more insulin to compensate.

But the hormones that control your fat cells don't feel the same way.

Within just four days of sleep deprivation, your body's ability to properly use insulin (the master storage hormone) becomes completely disrupted.

Here's why that's bad: When your insulin is functioning well, fat cells remove fatty acids and lipids from your bloodstream and prevent storage. When you become more insulin-resistant, fats (lipids) circulate in your blood and pump out more insulin. Eventually, this excess insulin ends up storing fat in all the wrong places, such as tissues like your liver. And this is how you gain weight and suffer from diseases like diabetes.

LACK OF REST MAKES YOU CRAVE FOOD

Many people think that hunger is related to willpower and learning to control or ignore the signals from your stomach - but that's incorrect. Hunger is controlled by two hormones: leptin and ghrelin.

Ghrelin is a hormone released in the stomach that signals hunger in the brain.

Levels are high before you eat, which is when the stomach is empty, and low after you eat. The more ghrelin you produce, the more you stimulate hunger while also reducing the number of calories you burn (your metabolism) and increasing the amount of fat you store.

Leptin is a hormone released from fat cells. It suppresses hunger and signals fullness in the brain. The less leptin you produce, the more your stomach feels empty.

When you do not get adequate sleep, the body makes more ghrelin and less leptin, leaving you hungry and increasing your appetite.

In other words, you need to control leptin and ghrelin to successfully lose weight, but sleep deprivation makes that almost impossible.

Research has found that sleeping less than six hours triggers the area of your brain that increases your need for food while also depressing leptin and stimulating ghrelin.

CORTISOL: When you don't sleep enough, your cortisol levels rise. This is the stress hormone that is frequently associated with fat gain. Cortisol also activates reward centers in your brain that make you want food.

At the same time, the loss of sleep causes your body to produce more ghrelin. A combination of high ghrelin and cortisol shut down the areas of your brain that leave you feeling satisfied after a meal, meaning you feel hungry all the time— even if you just ate a big meal.

This isn't helped by the fact that when you're overtired, you also have increased activity in the amygdala, which is the reward region of your brain.

This is why sleep deprivation destroys all diets; think of the amygdala as mind control—it makes you crave high-calorie foods. Normally you might be able to fight off this desire, but b/c of sleep deprivation, you have trouble fighting the urge and are more likely to indulge in all the wrong foods.

And if all that wasn't enough, research found that sleep deprivation makes you select BIGGER portion sizes of ALL foods which of course, increases the likelihood of weight gain.

The bottom line: Not enough sleep means you're always hungry, reaching for bigger portions, and desiring every type of food that is bad for you—and you don't have the proper brain functioning to tell yourself, “No!"

Poor sleep dramatically alters the way the body responds to food.
To make matters worse, it can become a vicious cycle. The less you sleep, the more weight you gain, and the more weight you gain, the harder it is to sleep.

Go to bed with an empty stomach, so your body is forced to use its stored fat for fuel all night while you sleep. This is where intermittent fasting comes in - another topic which i think was already addressed but happy to answer questions about it.

I know that’s a lot of information so always reach out to me to with your questions! Stay safe and be well. And get some sleep!