Lack of Sleep Can Cause Weight Gain

You stayed up to watch your favorite TV show or maybe you're working on the next level of your computer game and you still have to get up for work in the morning. And the morning comes way too early, at least for most of us.

You're not alone. According to Science Daily we've decreased the number of hours we sleep each night by up to two hours because of work, family, school, television, computer games and Internet use.

But the tired, dragging feeling in the morning may not be the only problem with lack of sleep. Lack of sleep may be making us fat.

Now I'm not saying lack of sleep is the only reason people are fat. There are other reasons people become fat like the amount of food eaten, the amount of exercise and heredity.

Hormones Regulating Appetite
There are two hormones regulating our appetite. One is ghrelin and the other is leptin. Ghrelin is the hormone increasing our sensation of hunger. Leptin is the hormone quieting our appetite.

In a medical research study, people who got 5 hours or less sleep had 15% more ghrelin than those who slept 8 hours or longer. Those sleeping 5 hours also had 15% less leptin. So if you're sleeping just 5 hours it means the feeling you're hungry frequently is caused by your hormones. This may be the reason for those nighttime refrigerator raids.

We often think of sleep as a way of relaxing and letting our bodies recharge. But this study points out sleep is also an important time for our body to get the proper level of hormones so we can avoid becoming overweight.

Leptin Turns Off Appetite
Leptin tells our brain when we have had enough to eat. It also helps regulate our metabolism level together with insulin. When we sleep our levels of leptin increase. This lets our body know we don't have to have the feeling of being hungry. When we don't get enough sleep our leptin levels are low. Our body tells us to eat, even though we don't need the additional calories and may have body fat reserves we can use. With low leptin levels our body metabolism slows down yet we still feel hungry.

Ghrelin Turns On Appetite And Turns Off Fat Burning
Ghrelin the partner hormone of leptin tells us when we should eat. When we sleep ghrelin levels increase since our body doesn't needs as much energy to sleep. People who don't sleep enough have a high level of ghrelin in their system. The body interprets this as need to eat more and also to hold onto to the fat stores we do have.

So a lack of sleep is a triple hit. We feel tired, we overeat and our body doesn't burn the fat stores we have. As a result we end adding additional pounds to our body just because we didn't sleep longer than 5 hours.

Lack Of Sleep Can Also Lead To Diabetes
And if that wasn't bad enough lack of sleep has been found to increase insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is where your body is unable to use the insulin it has and needs more to regulate your blood sugar. Insulin resistance is one of the early warning signs of diabetes.

Word to the wise-TIVO your TV program, turn off the computer and get some sleep. Getting more than 5 hours of sleep a night can help you decrease your weight and may even prevent the start of diabetes.