Weight Loss and Sleep

[Swoofie]

Hello,

Last year, I noticed I was losing a lot of weight without even really trying. I did cardio for an hour once a day and watched what I ate, but that was about the extent of it. I did however, get a lot of sleep. Not excessive amounts of sleep, but always had a full, restful 8hrs of sleep at night, plus a short power nap in the afternoons before night-classes.

Fast forward to now, and I've gained all that weight back plus some. I don't get nearly as much sleep as I did back then, and even when I do sleep, its fitful and restless. I don't have as much energy and I'm constantly tired.

I was just wondering if sleep affects your weight, or maybe I should just forget it and focus on other reasons on why I gained so much weight. Thanks in advance!

~Swoofie

 

[biggestloser105]

Hello,

Last year, I noticed I was losing a lot of weight without even really trying. I did cardio for an hour once a day and watched what I ate, but that was about the extent of it. I did however, get a lot of sleep. Not excessive amounts of sleep, but always had a full, restful 8hrs of sleep at night, plus a short power nap in the afternoons before night-classes.

Fast forward to now, and I've gained all that weight back plus some. I don't get nearly as much sleep as I did back then, and even when I do sleep, its fitful and restless. I don't have as much energy and I'm constantly tired.

I was just wondering if sleep affects your weight, or maybe I should just forget it and focus on other reasons on why I gained so much weight. Thanks in advance!

~Swoofie

My guess would be it's the other way around, that weight and how well you eat/whether you exercise affects your sleep.

Overweight people are at a higher risk for things like sleep apnea, asthma, overeating can cause stomach problems, exercising helps with stress. All these things can hurt how well you sleep.

I would look at what you eat for the most likely cause of weight gain.

 

[sophienaz]

Hello,

Last year, I noticed I was losing a lot of weight without even really trying. I did cardio for an hour once a day and watched what I ate, but that was about the extent of it. I did however, get a lot of sleep. Not excessive amounts of sleep, but always had a full, restful 8hrs of sleep at night, plus a short power nap in the afternoons before night-classes.

Fast forward to now, and I've gained all that weight back plus some. I don't get nearly as much sleep as I did back then, and even when I do sleep, its fitful and restless. I don't have as much energy and I'm constantly tired.

I was just wondering if sleep affects your weight, or maybe I should just forget it and focus on other reasons on why I gained so much weight. Thanks in advance!

~Swoofie

You know what happens as well? When you get a great nights sleep, in general, you tend to be less hungry the next day. I find this, at least. When I am sleep deprived (got 2 kids so its a real issue), I need more food the next day to keep me awake. If I don't eat enough, I am a mess.

So yeah, sleep = more energy the next day, so I reckon you need less food than if you are tired. Also when you sleep a lot, your workouts are more effective, as you have more energy in the gym. With sleep deprivation, the work outs can be very hard and demanding and depressing.

So it all becomes a vicious circle if you are not careful. But as the previous poster said, once you get to the overweight stage, your are more prone to sleep-related issues that stop you getting the rest you need.

Good luck breaking that cycle and getting more rest.

 

[summer123]

Sleep does affect your weight. Lack of sleep affects our hormones, namely the ones which make us feel satisfied when we have eaten and also those that make us crave food. Lack of sleep can mean we feel hungrier then normal even when we do not require any more food. Partly its due to a direct hormone not working properly but also its because the hormones and blood chemistry given off when we have eaten are similar to those we get when we have had enough sleep. The body craves food to try to fill the gap caused by lack of sleep.
In addition, the hormone which tells us we are full once we have eaten is not working properly so when we do eat (and often more then normal) many don't feel they know when to stop eating and over eat or crave more food as they feel they haven't eaten enough.

And then in addition to that, we feel much more tierd. Our bodies do alot of work to recover and repair themselves when we are asleep. If we don't sleep enough they may struggle to repair everything meaning when you wake, your muscles are weaker then they otherwise would be so any exercise you do chose to do (and indeed if you do chose to do it) would feel harder, your heart rate may not go as high so you may not burn as many calories as you otherwise would.

And lastly there are hormones affecting your mood to consider. Lack of sleep can result in lack of the feel good hormones; seratonine and dopamine. We feel 'low' and a bit depressed. Not only can this affect out choice to exercise/how long to exercise and how much effort to put into it but it can also affect how we eat, (comfort eating to feel better eg), how motivated we are to stick to any healthy eating and how much we believe our hard work will make a difference (motivation). It can also enhance the stress hormone cortisol as a knock on effect- meaning we feel stressed, our bodies feel stressed and we can feel even more fatigued and tierd after work or at the end of the day. Too much cortsol also is linked to fat being held around the waist and torso as well as around the organs such as the heart which in itself tends to be the opposite of what we all want!

So yes, lack of sleep can affect your weight loss and ability to exercise to your best but also don't forget if you have gone through a separate hormonal stage in your life (eg the menopause or aged from mid 20s to 30s) your body is naturally in decline and exercise can become harder unless you keep your eye on the ball and constantly challenge yourself, basicly if you don't use it you lose it. This tends to be easily rectified when we are younger but as we age its much harder to get ourselfs to the same fitness leves we had when we were younger.

As far as weight gain goes, it can make weight loss harder but your only going to gain massive amounts of weight if you eat more and do less. So if your unable to sleep more, watch what you eat like a hawk!

 

[Swoofie]

Oh, wow. Thanks for all the great replies everyone! I'm in the process of losing weight (officially starts tomorrow) and I'll be watching every little thing I eat, along with daily exercise routines. I guess late night study sessions really aren't doing me any good. I'll try to make more time to study during the day and hopefully I can sleep better. Again, thanks for the replies! It was very much appreciated!

~Swoofie

 

[Spinner19641]

Hi Swoofie. There is a theory that lack of sleep can contribute to weight gain and it may well be true in that when we are tired we will tend to eat more to get energy to see our day out.

Good sleep patterns are essential to our overall physical and emotional health. If you are struggling to get to sleep, stay asleep or waking up too early then you might need to work on your sleep.

There are lots of practical things to try:
- go to bed at the same time, have a sleep routine (i.e. bath, reading, etc), use natural sleep aids (i.e. lavender oils, warm milk, etc), relax your mind (i.e. meditation), etc.
- try and do 30 minutes exercise daily (even if it is a brisk walk)
- eat a simple diet (i.e. reduce stimulants such as coffee or caffeinated drinks and foods with a lot additives)

In addition to the practical things you might want to think through what aspects of your life may be worrying or bothering you in some way. For the things you can change then put a plan in place. For the things you cannot change accept that that aspect of your life is not within your control. And in all cases work out the 'bottom line' (i.e. the worst thing that can happen) and work out if that really is as much of an issue as you think.

Good sleep can be affected by our physical and emotional state and once we get 'bad sleep' we can also simply be in the habit of sleeping badly. It can be corrected but takes a little effort.