If you’re struggling to manage your weight, the answer may be in the quality of sleep you get every night. Not only is sleep just as essential for overall health as diet and exercise, but poor quality or inadequate sleep has been shown to directly impact our well-being and weight management goals.
Getting enough quality sleep can help you control your appetite, improve your metabolism, and reduce stress hormones, all of which contribute to making small changes in lifestyle habits and regulating our body weight.
Sleep requirements vary from person to person and throughout their life cycle. Adults need anything between seven to nine hours of sleep per night to restore physical, mental, and emotional health.
Appetite Regulation
Sleep loss affects hormones that affect our ability to feel fullness or hunger. When these hormones are imbalanced, it can increase cravings, especially for carbs and sugar-rich foods. The psychological manifestations of fatigue, sleep, and hunger are similar, and that’s why we sometimes confuse them. Whenever I get 4 hours of sleep or less (which is not very often, thankfully), I feel like a bottomless pit the next day when it comes to eating – it’s a very strange feeling!
This means we tend to eat when we’re actually sleepy – we think fatigue is a sign of hunger. These are the moments we tend to choose calorie-dense snacks (such as crisps, chocolates, and cookies) when we feel tired, leading to weight gain over time.
Metabolism
Sleep deprivation may affect how well the body processes carbs and fats by slowing down metabolic processes. This could lead to an increase in overall calorie intake throughout the day due to snacking late at night or because of intense cravings for high-fat and high-sugar foods.
Getting enough restful sleep each night can help speed up metabolism through thermoregulation – meaning that sleeping helps to keep the body’s core temperature balanced so it can burn calories efficiently during waking hours.
Furthermore, frequent physical activity helps regulate the hormones associated with healthy appetite control and effective metabolism. However, intense exercise without a proper recovery phase or good quality sleep is likely to put your body under increased stress, resulting in cortisol levels spiking further, leading to even more unhealthy cravings.
Factors that Will Help Increase Good Quality Sleep
- Try going to bed at more or less the same time every night.
- Exercise earlier in the day and aim for 30 to 60 minutes daily.
- Avoid caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol after noon if you’re sensitive to these stimulants.
- Eat and drink in smaller quantities before bedtime.
- Take a short nap during the day (not more than 20 minutes) if needed.
[RECIPE] LOADED CHILI TATERS
Serves: 4
Ingredients (use organic where possible):
- 4 large roasted sweet potatoes, hot
- 2 15-ounce BPA-free cans soy-free vegetarian chili with beans, heated
- 1 cup organic sour cream
- 1 cup organic shredded cheddar cheese or vegan cheese
- 1 small red onion, minced
For an omnivore option, substitute meat chili for the vegetarian chili. Serve topped with crisp-cooked, crumbled nitrate-free bacon.
Directions:
- Place roasted sweet potatoes on serving plates and split them open.
- Spoon hot chili inside potatoes.
- Dollop sour cream on top, then sprinkle cheese over the sour cream. Top with onion.
- Enjoy with a large salad tossed with dressing on the side.
To Your Health,
Patti
