Does Poor Sleep Prevent You From Losing Weight?
Insufficient sleep is a hugely underappreciated cause of a huge number of health problems. Although the American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends that adults sleep at least 7 hours, I find that patients recovering from chronic disease often need more.
We know that a lack of sleep not only increases the risk of Alzheimer’s dementia, but can also lead to heart disease and diabetes. One of the ways that a lack of sleep may be driving these conditions is by increasing your weight.
In a 2010 study, ten overweight adults were put on a calorie restricted diet. For 2 weeks, half the group was allowed to sleep for 8.5 hours, while the other half only got 5.5 hours. Then the groups switched and either got to sleep more or were forced to stay up so that the researchers could examine the effect that sleep had on weight loss.
The result was clear: the sleep restricted dieters didn’t lose weight.
Worse, they lost muscle and gained body fat. The researchers documented increases levels of the stress hormones cortisol and epinephrine, and norepinephrine, as well as changes in their thyroid hormone balance.
In my practice, I spend a lot of time helping my patients to sleep better because optimizing sleep is one of the biggest ways to impact your health. If you’d like guidance losing weight or improving your sleep - I’m here to help!
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