Losing weight can be a long and arduous process. From dieting to figuring out the right workout to making many other lifestyle changes, there’s a lot involved. But, there’s one thing that not many people factor in — sleep.
Sleep can have a major effect on not only your overall health but also your weight loss journey. So, if you’ve been eating right, cutting calories, staying hydrated, and working out and have yet to see any promising results, it may be time to look into your sleep habits.
Let’s look at the science behind how sleep and weight loss are related so you can effectively work towards a fitter, healthier you!
Getting the right amount of sleep is crucial to controlling obesity and losing weight. Why? Because sleep and weight loss are interlinked!
Sleep can result in hormonal changes that affect your general physical and mental health and wellbeing. This also includes your appetite.
When you don’t get enough sleep, the body’s ghrelin and leptin levels become imbalanced. These hormones affect your appetite and satiety. So, when these hormones are imbalanced, it causes you to eat more, which can increase your calorie intake.
If you’re sleep-deprived, you may not be equipped to quash food cravings. Instead, you might find yourself looking for high-calorie coffees and teas to stay awake as lack of sleep affects your decision-making.
Thus, lack of sleep makes it harder to resist temptations and stick to a healthy diet. It will increase your appetite and make you consume higher calories.
If you’re someone who stays up late working or watching movies, you probably find yourself constantly looking for something to snack on. This can slow down your weight loss process and may even cause weight gain!
The later your sleep, the larger the gap between your dinner and bedtime. This means that the window of opportunity to crave snacks is larger. Plus, if you’re not getting enough sleep, you’ll probably be craving low-nutrition, high-calorie junk food, which will only add to the problem.
Sleeping at a reasonable time, around 3 hours after dinner, will thus help circumvent this issue and make your weight loss process more effective.
Metabolism helps to burn energy or calories and depends on several factors such as weight, age, height, sex, and muscle mass.
Resting metabolic rate (RMR) is the rate at which your body burns calories when it is at rest. As sleep also affects the RMR, getting the right amount of sleep can help your body burn calories better.
Additionally, sleeping well can also increase your energy during activities, making your workouts more effective and efficient.
A lack of adequate sleep can significantly affect your athletic performance as well as overall physical activity by negatively impacting:
If you don’t get enough sleep, you may opt for less intense workouts with a lower impact, thus resulting in a less effective metabolism.
On average, we need about seven to nine hours of sleep a day. Any less and you run the risk of sleep deprivation, which will not only disrupt your weight loss regime but may also lead to various disorders.
To ensure that your appetite remains in control, your metabolism is effective, and you can work out properly, sleep is a major part of your life that you should be paying more attention to. Combine a healthy sleep pattern with a healthy diet like opting for keto recipes or going low-carb, and you’ll be well on your way to seeing significant and positive changes!
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