People Who Skip Sleep Tend To Gain Weight, And Here’s Why
shivani k 
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Have you been weighing a little extra on the weighing scale and have you also not been sleeping well? And if you have arrived at a self-assessed conclusion that it might be too little sleep which is the cause for your weight gain. Well, you’re not wrong because it might be! We all know how cranky and exhausted we feel the next day if we haven’t slept well the previous night, don’t we? Even if you’re following a strict diet and exercise regime every single day, but you’re not sleeping enough — this will lead to an increase in your weight!
And you will be surprised to know that this weight gain because of lack of sleep isn’t related to your heart. This whole dynamic of weight gain due to very little sleep is the dynamic of our brain (1). We can give you a very simple example; when you are either awake without sleeping voluntarily or when you aren’t able to sleep at all, what do you do? Don’t you take a small trip to your kitchen and find foods that are tummy-filling thinking that might help you get some shut-eye time? There, we hope you got our point now! Read on to understand a little more about this connection of weight gain related to lack of sleep. Let’s create some awareness about this.
Sleeping Less Equals Consuming More Calories
We all know that we have to (like have to-have to) sleep for at least the recommended hours according to our age every single night to provide our body the recovery time so that it’s ready for the next day (2). If we don’t do this, it is going to take a toll on our productivity levels, lowers our energy levels, makes us more irritable, and even leads us into unwanted and pity arguments with others (especially your love partner) (3), (4), (5). But now we need to add even weight gain to this list. Because research conducted by the Vrije University of Amsterdam and King’s College of London in 2016 discovered that partial sleep deprivation leads one to consume more calories the next day (6).
This research took into consideration 11 studies and analyzed and examined them. Nearly 172 participants participated in this study. Among them, some were sleep-deprived for nearly up to two weeks. After a certain time, the calorie intake of everybody was recorded. And in all of the 11 studies examined, the ones who were sleep-deprived consumed at least 385 calories more than the ones who weren’t. The research also said that the longer this sleep deprivation period prolongs, the more increase is expected in their calorie intake.
Lack Of Sleep Messes Up Our Hunger Hormones
When we sleep less, we wake up with a not so happy demeanor, right? And a majority of us out there find our solace and happiness in food — it could be self-cooked food, mom cooked food, or just plain junk like your favorite Margherita pizza or a nasty triple-quadruple scoop of gelato ice cream (Ah! Sounds so blissful!). Knock knock! It isn’t healthy so wake up from this habit and consider sleeping for good. Research has already shown how lack of sleep can mess up with our satiety and hunger hormones (7).
There’s another study that shows how sleeping little can take a toll on our brains to associate with rewards and motivation. All that this study is trying to say is that after a bad night of very little sleep, all that one desires for is instantly yummy food that rewards mood with happiness (8).
Lack Of Sleep Leads To Bad Food Choices
A study has shown how not having enough sleep can lead one to pick up different kinds of new junk food the next day (9). And this from all angles can only be seen as serious harm to our health, right? You wake up without any sleep and eat foods like hamburgers and cheese pizzas. After eating such foods, one will surely have trouble falling asleep again. And the next morning, it’s time for some more indulgence because of improper sleep. This will become a repeated cycle until you’ve realized that you need to figure out a way to handle your sleep routine better.
Lack of sleep can be caused due to various reasons — it could be your unhealthy lifestyle, using phone way too much before sleeping on the bed, tensions, stress, etc. Whatever might be the reason behind you sleeping poorly, you need to understand and analyze it! Falling into an unhealthy lifestyle is a very bad idea. All this being said; do you know of any tricks that can help improve sleep? Let us know in the comments section below.
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