Sleep
You may not realize just how important sleep is to weight management, but the truth is, if you’re not getting the right amount of sleep, it can have a big impact on your weight. Although the occasional sleepless night isn’t going to have a profound impact on your weight, if you consistently aren’t getting enough sleep, then you will have a hard time managing your weight.
Here are several ways that a lack of sleep can cause weight gain:
Carbohydrate Cravings
When you don’t have enough energy because you haven’t been getting enough sleep, your body starts to look for other ways to get the energy that it needs, which is usually in the form of carbohydrates. Studies have shown that people who are tired crave carbohydrates and food in general more than those who are well-rested.
This becomes a problem because when you are tired, you also lack in self-control, which often leads to over-eating, especially of simple carbohydrates. This can start a vicious cycle as you’ll feel energy for a little while, but then face a crash as your blood sugar drops because of the simple carbs, leading you to crave more, most of which will end up being converted into body fat.
More Hunger
There are several factors that go into causing you to be hungrier when you’re tired. Not getting enough sleep affects the part of your brain that controls cravings, causing you to feel hungry even when you’re not, and causes your body to miss the signals that you’re full. For this reason, people who are sleep deprived consume an average of 300 calories more than those who are well-rested.
Less Exercise
Even if you love exercising, it can be hard to be motivated to get up and get moving when you feel tired. That means that even if you do manage to eat right all day, you will only end up balancing out your calories at the end of the day, or could end up with an excess simply because you didn’t do the exercises that you need to keep up a deficit of calories so that you lose weight.
Slower Metabolism
A study done recently found a connection between a lower metabolism and a lack of sleep. As your metabolism slows down from being tired, it’s harder for you to maintain the caloric burn that you need to keep everything you eat from getting stored as fat. It also means that on days you don’t get enough sleep, you need to exercise more when you’re usually doing the opposite.
Poor Food Choices
Making the right food choices is vital to managing your weight, but when you’re not getting enough sleep, you will have a much harder time choosing to eat enough fruits and vegetables. One study even showed that people who don’t get enough sleep often don’t drink enough water, which is another important part of managing weight.
Bottom Line
The amount of sleep you’re getting will affect your weight management plan, so make sure that you’re not only getting enough sleep, but getting good sleep all night long that will let you wake up feeling rested and ready to make good choices throughout the day.