Sleep And Weight Loss: How Your Weight Could Be Impacting Your Sleep
If you’ve been tossing and turning, finding it hard to sleep, waking up feeling tired, it could be linked to your weight.
And if you’re finding it hard to lose weight, it could be linked to the quality of your sleep.
Increasingly, research is finding a ‘Catch 22’ link between weight and sleep.
Effects of Poor Sleep
Adults need 7 to 9 hours of good quality sleep for proper rest, digestive processes, cellular and tissue repair, as well as a raft of other functions only possible in sleep.
There’s a fine balance when it comes to sleep, too much or too little can topple our health balance, increasing the risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, depression and obesity.
Poor sleep also impacts the hormonal system. Of particular importance to weight loss are Leptin and Ghrelin, which suppress appetite and make us feel hungry (respectively).
How Weight Affects Sleep
Excess weight causes flow-on effects in the body which inhibit good sleep.
Some sleep-related conditions more common in people who are overweight are Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease, Asthma, depression as well as aches, pains, discomfort or nerve damage caused by the body carrying extra weight.
How Sleep Affects Weight
More research is uncovering the link between good sleep and metabolism, which slows down with less sleep.
The hormonal system also relies on good sleep for proper balance of hunger signals as well as growth hormones and stress (cortisol) levels which impact weight gain.
Evidence shows poor sleep leads to poor food choices and less energy for activity – cycling back to difficulty with weight loss, leading to further sleep issues.
Break the Cycle
This may not feel very uplifting, so, how can you break this self-perpetuating cycle?
The good news is, knowledge makes it possible to intervene and change direction. Help is available.
Perth Weight Loss and Surgery has the tool kit to help you turn things around, to help improve your sleep along with solutions for long-term weight loss.
If you would like help with your healthy weight loss goals, talk to the experts.
Get in touch with Perth Weight Loss and Surgery to book a consultation with Mr. Siva Gounder today.
