Sleeping Well Can Actually Make You Loose Weight!
1. Poor sleep can make you hog food like a beast
Now, there are two ways to look at this situation.
Firstly, as per a 2016 study published in the journal Sleep, lack of sleep can put the body under stress and increase the levels of the stress hormone, cortisol. This, in turn, can boost the production of ghrelin, the hunger hormone in the body and increase your appetite.
Secondly, sleep deprivation can also make your brain more sensitive to food stimuli according to a study published in the American Journal of Nutrition, thereby making it difficult for you to control food cravings.
Needless to say, both these factors can lead to an increase in your caloric intake and well—an increase in your waist size too. Oops!
2. God forbid, it can cause diabetes too
According to a study published in the journal Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinics, poor sleep can cause insulin resistance. Basically, the insulin hormone is responsible for carrying sugar from your blood to various organs in order to provide energy to them to perform their functions.
In case of insulin resistance though, the sugar remains in the bloodstream, as a result of which, the blood sugar levels increase and the body produces more insulin. While the former can lead to type-2 diabetes, the latter can lead to increased hunger and encourage the cells to store more energy as fat.
3. Your metabolism may not be spared either
The wrath of inadequate sleep spares none and your metabolism is no exception to the rule. Nope, not even your resting metabolism, which basically dictates the number of calories you burn while resting and supporting basic bodily functions such as breathing, circulating blood, organ functions, and basic neurological functions.
According to a study published in the journal Obesity, sleep deprivation can lead to a slower resting metabolic rate (RMR).
In fact, it can even slow down your active metabolic rate which is responsible for expending calories while you sit, stand, walk, and exercise.
This is because according to a study published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, sleep deprivation can lead to muscle loss, and y’all know how important healthy muscles are for calorie-burning and fast metabolism, right?
