While sleep does not directly cause weight gain or prevent you from losing weight, it does influence some powerful factors that will impact your ability to do so heavily, and it is 💯 not something you should ignore if you are struggling to move forward as you hoped.
Firstly,
What is good (or bad) sleep?
In simplest terms possible we can look at the hours we sleep to judge the quality, although it is a little more complex than that.
✅ Greater than 7 hours sleep 6 nights per week, and you have nothing to worry about
❌ Less than 6 consistently and you are going to struggle
Sitting between these two times is a bit of a no man’s land and you might be ok, equally you might not, but most of the research suggests that more than 7 is good, less than 6 is a disaster waiting to happen. Before you start to feel confident about your time asleep though, please bare in mind that most people will spend 85% of their time in bed asleep, so if you want achieve your 7 hours you will need to ensure you are in bed at least 8 hours prior to your intended wake up time (or alarm).
So… What’s it got to do with weight loss?
The most basic premise of weight loss is that a reduction in calories and increased activity levels will result in a negative energy balance, requiring you to utilised stored energy (fat) as a fuel to sustain your required demands resulting in weight loss. Yes this is simplified, and yes like sleep it is a little more complex than it at first seems but it is a pretty decent place to start, and without the creation of a negative energy balance you are definitely not going to lose weight, so start with the basics and go from there.
Poor Sleep impacts powerfully your ability to both reduce the amount of calories you eat, whilst also making it more difficult for you to burn calories and thus making it a pretty hard slog to lose weight if you are not getting adequate sleep, here’s how.
> Increased Appetite > Ghrelin is the hormone responsible for appetite and and is often referred to as the ‘hunger hormone’ the more you have of it in your system, the greater your appetite. When you do not get adequate quantity of sleep your body produces more of the stuff increasing your hunger levels and making it harder to resist those extra calories.
> Increased Desire for high calorie foods > Not only does Ghrelin increase your desire for food on the whole through hunger, but it will actively encourage you to seek out higher-calorie foods, foods it feels will help satisfy that hunger quicker leading to not only eating more in terms of volume but also in terms of calorie density.
> Decreased Satiety > Leptin is your counter to Ghrelin and helps signal when you are full but its production is decreased following a poor night’s sleep. This results in you continuing to eat beyond your needs and once again leading to increased calorie intake.
> Combatting Cortisol > Apart from the obvious that the longer we stay awake the more hours in the day we have available to eat, staying awake later in the evening also puts us in a battle against cortisol (especially under artificial light and/or stressful situations). Cortisol should decrease steadily from mid afternoon preparing us for a great night sleep, but our modern way of living (bright lights, devices, and long working hours) makes this difficult, so we seek help. This help will come in the desire for sugary foods which increase serotonin in turn reducing cortisol which explains the difficulty in keeping out of the snack drawer as the evening wears on.
In combination it is a pretty disastrous state. More hours awake, more time to eat and less awareness of satiety with an increased hunger and desire for high calorie foods that are likely high in sugar to combat the increased cortisol levels resulting in unstable blood glucose levels – It’s not ideal!!
^^ Ultimately, the above 4 issues contribute to the fact that those who sleep less than 6 hours routinely have been shown to consume 10% more calories than those who sleep for 7, Like I mentioned at the start of this piece, it’s not impossible to lose weight with inadequate sleep, but you are putting hurdles in place that are pretty difficult to overcome, and even if you do you are going to be pretty miserable in doing so.
Now for activity…
Lack of sleep is a double edged sword, not only will it increase the number of calories you eat, but it will have a big impact on how many of those you burn.
> Reduced Movement > We have all been tired, we know how it looks and feels. Not only can we not be bothered to move but when we do we move slower, we put off the thing, we take the easier option, and instead of getting up, we stay where we are. This is not just the case throughout daily living, but when exercise to, it takes us longer to get going and we cannot give as much to our session as we usually would, burning less calories, stimulating less muscle and overall contributing less ot the creation of a negative energy balance.
> Lower Stress Tolerance > Tired people have less tolerance, not just for other people, but for stressful situations in general, and exercise is stress, so you are a) more likely to find an excuse to avoid it when tired and b) less likely to push yourself to exercise harder when you do, backing off on all exercises as soon as they become difficult. Your reduced stress tolerance will add to your reduced propensity to move and again impact negatively your ability to create a calorie deficit.
> Increased Pain Sensitivity > In combination with the above two, lack of sleep increases pain sensitivity so you will feel those little niggles just a little more, recovery will feel slower, and you will be more encouraged to stay away from any exertion and look after a niggle that would not ordinarily cause you much pain.
In conclusion, by sleeping less than 6 hours per night on average or more than 3 nights per week and you are not going to make it impossible to lose those extra pounds, but you will make the process far less enjoyable and way harder than it could be if you just went to bed on time
If you are concerned about your sleep here are 5 questions to ask yourself
- Are you satisfied with your sleep?
- Do you stay awake all day without dozing?
- Are you asleep between 0200 & 0400?
- do you spend less than 30 minutes awake at night?
- Are you ‘asleep’ more than 6.5 hours per night (bare in mind the 85% rule here)
If you would say 6 out of 7 nights for each of these questions then you can probably sleep soundly knowing you are in a reasonable place with your sleep.
If not, then I would suggest speaking with a coach to help you with your sleep.
Start here >>> link to how to get a great night sleep