I've written about the importance of sleep several times in the past few months, but we've got news about the impact of sleep on appetite. New research from The University of Chicago has shown that sleep impacts the secretion of leptin and ghrelin, 2 hormones integrally linked with appetite. Leptin is a hormone that suppresses appetite by affecting how full and satisfied we feel after eating. Ghrelin is a hormone that stimulates appetite.
The research showed that study participants who slept only four hours a night for two nights had an 18 percent decrease in leptin and a 28 percent increase in ghrelin. When these results are overlayed with the results of the Nurses Healthy Study that showed that participants who slept five hours a night were 32 percent more likely to experience a weight gain of 33 pounds or greater, and 15 percent more likely to become obese, compared with participants who slept seven hours a night, it becomes awfully clear that sleep is a very important part of weight control. Along with an increase in appetite, lack of sleep probably causes the body to burn calories differently, saving more for energy storage (fat) in the body.
So, while you can't really lose weight while you sleep, you can't lose weight if you don't sleep. Sleep hygiene, as the experts call it, is a critical part of health care, along with good nutrition, exercise and stress reduction. So if it's late at night and you're reading this blog, go to sleep instead!!
Yours in a Good Mood,
Dr. Susan Kleiner