Sleep and Weight Loss: Can sleep deprivation really affect weight loss?

Jenny West, APRN

in Weight Loss / Diet / Jenny West Posted on

07/21/2020 02:23 PM

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society both recommend that adults between the ages of 18-60 should sleep for at least 7 hours each night with some individuals needing up to 9 hours of sleep to have optimal health. Unfortunately, more than a third of Americans are not meeting this recommendation on a routine basis (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016). As a side effect of this sleep deprivation, successful weight loss can be affected.

When someone is not getting enough sleep, this can cause an individual to feel physically tired. This can often lead to poorer and more convenient food choices. The tendency to grab that quick meal which is high in fat and rich in carbohydrates or perhaps that sugary beverage with extra caffeine becomes an enticing option in the presence of mental and physical fatigue. In addition, when energy is low, the motivation to do exercise can be lacking, causing us to move less and therefore burn fewer calories during the day. And finally, if someone is not asleep, then the amount of wakeful time is increased. This can lead to more opportunities to snack and feel the effects of hunger and late-night cravings, thus leading to the consumption of more calories during the day.

However, it is not just poor habits that sleep deprivation can affect. Lack of sleep can have a negative impact on someone’s metabolism. Studies have shown that lack of sleep triggers an increase in the production of cortisol (Hirotsu et al., 2015). Cortisol, or often times known as the body’s stress hormone, stimulates fat and carbohydrate metabolism for fast energy. It also stimulates the release of insulin to increase blood sugar levels so that the body can respond during stressful or wakeful hours. What can all this potentially lead too? The end result is an increase in appetite and cravings for sugary, high fat or salty food in addition to the body being more prone to hang on to fat.

Finally, research by Knutson & Cauter (2015) found that after just 4 days of insufficient sleep, the body’s ability to process insulin declines. This leads to insulin resistance, ultimately forcing the pancreas to produce more insulin in the presence of carbohydrates. Like Cortisol, insulin promotes the ability to store more fat and therefore have less weight loss. Also, insulin resistance is the cornerstone of Type 2 Diabetes, a condition that often can be found in individuals struggling with excess weight.

So, is sleep important for weight loss? It absolutely is! Don’t skip out on getting those extra zzz’s when needing to drop those extra pounds. Cutting back on sleep can increase our body’s resistance to lose weight and increase its ability to store fat, both of which can create an uphill battle in the fight to achieve successful weight loss.

References:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2016, February 16). 1 in 3 adults don’t get enough sleep: A good night’s sleep is critical for good health. https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2016/p0215-enough-sleep.html

Hirotsu, C., Tufik, S., & Anderson, M. (2015). Interactions between sleep, stress, and metabolism: From physiological to pathological conditions. Sleep Science, 8(3), 143-152. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4688585/

Knutson, K. L., & Cauter, E.V. (2015, April 13) Associations between sleep loss and increased risk of obesity and diabetes. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1129, 287-304. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4394987/

Nedeltcheva, A. V., Kilkus, J. M., Imperial, J., Schoeller, D. A., & Penney, P. P. (2010, October 5). Insufficient sleep undermines dietary efforts to reduce adiposity. Annals of Internal Medicine, 153(7), 435-441. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2951287/

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