TUESDAY, JUNE 21ST, 2011
Open Class 4:00pm
Foothill Volleyball 6:00pm
Two recent studies added to the evidence showing that your sleeping habits influence both your ability to lose weight and your tendency to eat more:
People trying to lose weight were more likely to lose 10 pounds when they slept between six and eight hours a night, according to research in the International Journal of Obesity.
People ate an average of nearly 300 calories more when they were sleep-deprived compared to when they were well rested, research presented at an American Heart Association revealed. And the calories overwhelmingly came from junk foods like ice cream and fast food.
Other research found that among adults younger than 40, those who typically slept for five hours or less each night had a greater accumulation of belly fat, and yet another study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, found dieters who slept for 8.5 hours lost 55 percent more body fat than dieters who only got 5.5 hours of shut-eye.
This is only scratching the surface of the research linking your sleeping habits with your body weight -- so what's this connection all about? It is likely the effect of altered metabolism, because when you're sleep deprived, leptin (the hormone that signals satiety) falls, while ghrelin (which signals hunger) rises. In one study, researchers found that people who received only four hours of sleep a night for two nights experienced:
18 percent reduction in leptin
28 percent increase in ghrelin
This combination leads to an increase in appetite. Additionally, sleep-deprived people tend to eat more sweet and starchy foods, as opposed to vegetables and proteins. For instance, in the study mentioned above where people ate 300 extra calories when they were sleep-deprived.
The lead researcher told USA Today:
"Ice cream stood out as the preferred food during the sleep-deprived state."
These sugar cravings may stem from the fact that your brain is fueled by glucose (blood sugar); therefore, when lack of sleep occurs, your brain starts searching for carbohydrates to keep going. If you're chronically sleep deprived, consistently giving in to these sugar cravings will virtually guarantee you'll gain weight.
Coach Justin
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