Sleep and Weight Gain

Sleep and Weight Gain

With National Bed month starting on March 1st it’s a great time to recap on the importance of getting a good night’s sleep.

Sleep is vital to our health and well-being as well as our control of weight,getting a great night’s sleep leaves us feeling refreshed, full of energy and ready to take on the world. When we have a bad night’s sleep we often feel sluggish, irritable and find ourselves reaching for the high energy dense low nutrient food choices.

According to the national sleep foundation we should get between seven to nine hours of quality sleep per night. Yet a report published by the sleep council back in March 2013 where over five thousand people were surveyed showed a third of the population (33%) now get by on five to six hours sleep a night compared to 27% in 2010. And the majority of people (70%) sleep for seven hours or less. With stress being the dominant factor for keeping over half of Britons awake at night.

On top of this as many as 7.9 million admitted to having used alcohol to aid with getting to sleep and 6.8 million self-medicated with over the counter tonics.

So what is sleep?

Sleep is a shift of consciousness which our bodies require every day. It is vital to health and wellbeing.

When we first fall asleep we enter non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. NREM is divided into three stages: NREM1, NREM2 and NREM3, each stage becoming progressively deeper. Stages one and two are light stages of sleep from which we can be easily roused. The third stage is a deeper stage of sleep from which we’re more difficult to rouse, and some may feel disorientated if woken from this stage of sleep. Generally, after going through the NREM stages, we enter stage 4 which is known as rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. It is during the REM stage of sleep that we dream. Each cycle lasts around 1.5 hours and we need to experience all four stages in order to wake up rested. A good night’s sleep consists of five or six cycles, whereas disturbed sleep consists of far fewer.

Why is it important?

Sleep is important for a multitude of reasons, these range from:

• Healthy brain function-sleep deprivation has been found to cause reduced cognitive function and memory consolidation. (Marquet 2001; Stickgold 2005)
• Blood pressure regulation-sleep deprivation can lead to an increase in blood pressure due to activation of the sympathetic nervous system. (Ogawa et al 2003)
• Healthy immune system – sleep deprivation can lead to impaired immune response and metabolic changes such as insulin resistance. (Spiegel et al 2005)
• Hormone balance – sleep deprivation can lead to imbalances in hormones in particular cortisol secretion. (Spiegel et al 1999; Lac and Chamoux 2003)

The link between sleep and weight gain

Sleep helps maintain and regulate a plethora of hormones ranging from Ghrelin which makes you feel hungry, Leptin which tells you when you are full, Cortisol which helps to regulate blood sugar along with metabolising macro nutrients, to name only a few. It affects how your body reacts to insulin, the hormone that controls your blood glucose (sugar) level, with studies showing a correlation between sleep loss and an increased risk of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. (Spiegel, Knutson, Leproult, Tasali, Van Cauter 2005)

Along with ametabolic and endocrine alterations, including decreased glucose tolerance, decreased insulin sensitivity, elevated sympathovagal balance, increased evening concentrations of cortisol, increased levels of ghrelin, decreased levels of leptin, and increased hunger and appetite. (Van Couter; Knutson 2008) With the figures published by the National Sleep foundation suggesting such a rise in sleep deprivation coupled with the obesogenic environment we live in today, is it any wonder health studies and reports show alarming figures such as these?

‘According to a report by the institute for health metrics and evaluation (IHME) more people are either overweight or obese in the UK than any other time in the past three decades. To add some perspective, this equates to roughly two thirds of men and women. The report, which looks at data from 1980-2013 and shows 67% of men and 57% of women in the UK are overweight or obese.’

What can we do?

Well there are many factors which effect weight gain and constitute towards the obesogenic environment we live in, with sleep being one of them. The beauty is that sleep is an easy and free fix towards any fat loss/health and fitness goals or just your quality of life in general.

Here are some healthy sleep tips:

• Get a Routine By sticking to the same bedtime and waking up gives  you time to to regulate your body’s clock which could help you fall asleep and stay asleep for the night, incorporate a relaxing bedtime ritual an hour before bed. Make your bedroom more sleep conducive – Keep noise down , get the right mattress for you , keep the room cool (around 65° F or 18° C) and cut out light (consider blackout curtains) (1)
• Exercise regularly and eat well – Avoid drinking too much before bed and avoid alcohol or caffeine as these are stimulants, avoid meals that are too heavy or rich on an evening to help the digestive system and exercise on a regular basis to assist with sleep. (2)
• Use bright light to manage your circadian rhythms – Avoid bright light in an evening and increase light exposure during the day by removing sunglasses, getting as much light as possible into your workspace, spending time outside or even using a light therapy box to assist your circadian rhythms.
• If you still have trouble sleeping or you are struggling with sleep problems, you may have a sleep disorder that requires professional treatment. Consider scheduling a visit with a sleep doctor or sleep professional. You may also benefit from recording your sleep in a Sleep Diary to help you better evaluate common patterns or issues you may see with your sleep or sleeping habits.

© MTA fitness coaching ǀ Andy Merrick ǀ February 2015