Can You Gain Weight by Not Catching Enough Zzzzzs?

Does the amount of sleep you get affect your weight? How many calories are burned when asleep? How much sleep is enough? These questions are starting to be answered as new medical evidence is evaluated.

Lack of Sleep and Your Weight

Colette Bouchez MD's article in WebMD, "The Dream Diet: Losing Weight While You Sleep" provides results that reveal some interesting facts about sleep and weight. She tells us that, according to Michael Breus, PhD, a faculty member of the Atlanta School of Sleep Medicine and director of The Sleep Disorders Centers of Southeastern Lung Care in Atlanta, there are two hormones that are affected by sleep patterns: Leptin and Ghrelin. The studies show that these two hormones work in balance with one another, causing our hunger center to feel either hungry or satiated.

Dr. Breus is quoted as saying, "When you don't get enough sleep, it drives leptin levels down, which means you don't feel as satisfied after you eat. Lack of sleep also causes ghrelin levels to rise, which means your appetite is stimulated, so you want more food."

Take Away: Shortchanging your body of sleep tonight may cause you to overeat tomorrow! So, if you have one of those days that you nibble all day long, think back to how you slept the night before to determine if there may be a connection for you.

How Much Sleep is Enough?

ABC News.com shares in it's article, "Lose Weight in Your Sleep" the results of sleep studies that indicate that less than 8 hours of sleep can boost Ghrelin and reduce Leptin. They also state that 63% of American adults get less than 8 hours, and not surprisingly, 65% of Americans are overweight!

Medicinenet.com states that the amount of sleep most people need varies person to person, but that 7-8 hours is average. Debunking the theory that we need less sleep as we get older, their article, "Your Guide to Healthy Sleep" they state, "Some people believe that adults need less sleep as they get older. But there is no evidence to show that older people can get by with less sleep than younger people." They also agree with the hormone imbalance theory, and explain further that this imbalance revs up one's taste for foods that are high in calories and carbohydrates!

However, in my article, "Losing Weight and Your Bucket List", I also passed along the Mayo Clinic's warning about getting too much sleep as well. Mayo says that getting more than 10 hours sleep can cause a host of medical problems, including weight gain!

Take Away: Play it safe and get a full eight hours sleep each night, but don't sleep the morning away!

How Many Calories Do We Burn When We Sleep?

When I enter "sleeping" as an activity into The Calorie Count Website's activity tool, it indicates we burn 68 calories during "Quiet Sleeping". In an effort to be more precise, I found another tool on the Fit Watch Website, which adds your weight into the calculation. Based on their calculator a 130-pound person would burn 56 calories sleeping, while a 170-pound person would burn 73 calories.

Take Away: While we do burn calories sleeping and don't eat during this period of nocturnal activity (unless we are a sleep-eater!), the quality and duration of our nightly snooze is what matters!

Now it's official; we all need a good night's sleep to rebuild our bodies, recharge our brain cells, and also maintain a healthy weight. We need to stop thinking that sleep doesn't matter all that much, unless we want to be run down, foggy brained and fat! Get your eight hours of Z's tonight; you can finish whatever you're doing tomorrow!

Other Articles you may like:
"Have Sex and Lose Weight?"
"Foods That Curb Your Appetite"
"Can Hot Chili Peppers Help You Lose Weight?"

Resources:
WebMD.com
ABC News.com
Medicinenet.com