Sleeping on the job
So, we’ve all heard the basic ingredients for a successful weight loss programme. There’s nothing more to it than to “move about more and eat less”. Right? Wrong! The more I learn about weight management the less I seem to know. Although ultimately “calories in” need to be less than “calories out”, it’s the other factors that influence this, that make it harder, or easier for us to do it, that really interest me. And it seems there’s hardly a week goes by without yet another new finding which attempts to help us understand why some of us find it easier to lose weight than others. So, the message of this week’s blog is……if you want to lose weight ….go to sleep! But let me explain…………….
Scientists at the Kaiser Center for Health Research in the USA have shown that a good predictor of whether someone is going to lose weight successfully is whether they are having too little, or too much sleep. I guess we can all imagine why someone who sleeps long in the mornings might struggle. Less hours awake, less activity. But what the scientists also showed was that people who have too little sleep have similar difficulties. There are several reasons for this. There are some naturally occurring hormones that control appetite that are influenced by sleep patterns. Too little sleep can actually increase your appetite. You’re also likely to have a less structured eating pattern, raising the risk of succumbing to those less healthy snacks, and less healthy food choices. More energy in. But you’re also less likely to be active as you will be too tired during your waking hours. Less energy out.
But there’s another factor at play here. Stress. People who are stressed, through work, or family issues, or whatever the reason, often have disturbed sleep. Stress produces a steroid hormone called cortisol. We all have it. But too much of it can be a problem. And what else does cortisol do? It increases your appetite and promotes weight gain…… So many of us might be doing whatever we feel we can to bring about weight loss, while our lifestyle, with a lack of sleep and too much stress, is doing completely the opposite.
So often we think just about the causes of weight gain, and not the “causes of the causes”. It’s time to think a bit laterally. Are you getting enough sleep? Are you managing your stress levels well? Is there more you could be doing to make sure you’re in the right place, mentally and physically, to make the most of your weight loss programme? The positive out of this is that, once you do regain control, more activity, and less weight, will actually give you more energy, improve your sleep, and decrease stress levels. We just need to find a way to break out of the cycle first.
Dr Ian Campbell
Sleeping on the job
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By Dr Ian Campbell April 2011
So, we’ve all heard the basic ingredients for a successful weight loss programme. There’s nothing more to it than to “move about more and eat less”. Right? Wrong! The more I learn about weight management the less I seem to know. Although ultimately “calories in” need to be less than “calories out”, it’s the other factors that influence this, that make it harder, or easier for us to do it, that really interest me. And it seems there’s hardly a week goes by without yet another new finding which attempts to help us understand why some of us find it easier to lose weight than others. So, the message of this week’s blog is……if you want to lose weight ….go to sleep! But let me explain…………….
Scientists at the Kaiser Center for Health Research in the USA have shown that a good predictor of whether someone is going to lose weight successfully is whether they are having too little, or too much sleep. I guess we can all imagine why someone who sleeps long in the mornings might struggle. Less hours awake, less activity. But what the scientists also showed was that people who have too little sleep have similar difficulties. There are several reasons for this. There are some naturally occurring hormones that control appetite that are influenced by sleep patterns. Too little sleep can actually increase your appetite. You’re also likely to have a less structured eating pattern, raising the risk of succumbing to those less healthy snacks, and less healthy food choices. More energy in. But you’re also less likely to be active as you will be too tired during your waking hours. Less energy out.
But there’s another factor at play here. Stress. People who are stressed, through work, or family issues, or whatever the reason, often have disturbed sleep. Stress produces a steroid hormone called cortisol. We all have it. But too much of it can be a problem. And what else does cortisol do? It increases your appetite and promotes weight gain…… So many of us might be doing whatever we feel we can to bring about weight loss, while our lifestyle, with a lack of sleep and too much stress, is doing completely the opposite.
So often we think just about the causes of weight gain, and not the “causes of the causes”. It’s time to think a bit laterally. Are you getting enough sleep? Are you managing your stress levels well? Is there more you could be doing to make sure you’re in the right place, mentally and physically, to make the most of your weight loss programme? The positive out of this is that, once you do regain control, more activity, and less weight, will actually give you more energy, improve your sleep, and decrease stress levels. We just need to find a way to break out of the cycle first.
Tags: energy expenditure, hormones, sleep, stress