In short, yes it can. How much sleep you get can depend on your ability to lose weight and can be a precursor to you putting on weight. Apart from this weight can affect how long you live, your physical health and your productivity. So, it is a good idea to be open to getting the recommended 7-9 hours shut-eye or beauty sleep!
How sleep affects weight loss
Matthew Walker is a professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. He and his team have done extensive research on all things sleep including questions around does sleep affect weight loss. He and other experts have concluded that less sleep can lead not only to difficulty in losing weight, but also unwanted weight gain.
How your hunger hormones are affected by lack of sleep
Your hunger levels are controlled by the hormones, Leptin, and Ghrelin. Ghrelin sends a message to the brain to tell you when your stomach is empty and needs fuel and Leptin sends the message to tell you, you have enough fuel onboard and are ready to move. Lack of sleep throws these hormones out. This can mean you will feel hungry when you don’t need fuel and will not experience the feeling of fullness when you have eaten enough.
Not only will you eat more, but the food that people who are lacking the regular amount of sleep tend to consume are concentrated foods like those with flour and sugar. and lack of sleep
Another important point to note is when you have underslept your body becomes resistant to using up fat and will use lean muscle for energy instead. If you are on a weight loss journey and looking to maintain those strong muscles to
7 Tips to improve your sleep
- Turn down lights 2-3 hours before bed – reducing the light increases melatonin in the body, which tells the brain it is time to go to sleep.
- Turn off screens an hour before bed – once again the melatonin takes time to increase and the light-emitting screen will prevent that from happening.
- Write down any thoughts that may be causing you stress before you sleep – or if you have a to-do list floating around in your head, have some paper and pen next to your bed and write these down. It may stop your brain from ruminating. It can literally clear your head.
- Read a book before bed, to help your brain calm down. This is my favourite. I know that this helps my brain get to a place of calm.
- Listen to meditation before bed. My children love listening to meditation before bed. It calms their mind and puts different thoughts into their head that is helpful to go to sleep.
- Sleep cooler rather than hotter. Research shows when the temperature is cooler, we sleep better. So having a shower or bath before bed causes Vaso-dilation. This is the process of the vessels opening and releasing heat from the body. It cools your core body temp down.
- Look at reducing sugar and increasing the fibre in your diet. High sugar and low fibre diets can result in less deep sleep and more periods of waking up.
Does sleep affect weight loss? A resounding yes. But getting enough sleep does not only impact weight it has great implications for your overall health and morality. So, whether you are wanting to lose weight, maintain weight, add years to your life, stay healthy or produce at your best be kind to yourself and work on getting your 7-9 hours of sleep a night.
Let me know what works for you. Look at it as an experiment. With anything, you don’t have to be all or nothing. This means you don’t have to go from 6 hours sleep to 7 straight away. Start by going to bed 15 minutes earlier and making manageable changes. When this becomes a habit, then look at the next change that you can make that has you showing up as the best version of yourself.
If you are ready to lose weight for the last time and want the tools and steps to overcome emotional eating, get in touch. Click here and schedule a free no-obligation discovery call and find out if coaching is a good fit for you.
Have a beautiful day
