Is a lack of sleep affecting your health?
A recent study has found that getting adequate sleep may counteract genetic factors related to weight gain.
The study looked at 1,088 pairs of twins and found that for twins sleeping less than seven hours, genetic influences accounted for 70% of the differences in BMI (body mass index), with environmental factors contributing the other 30%. For twins averaging more than nine hours of sleep, genetic factors were attributed to only 32 % of weight variations.
In other words, sleep determined how much genes influenced these twins being overweight.
This study proves that sleep matters for fat loss.
Many people think that they can survive on 5 hours sleep and caffeinate themselves through the day – but this is not good for your health & body shape.
Sleep affects several of your hormones:
- Ghrelin – this is your hunger hormone: it stimulates your appetite. When you get a poor night’s sleep, you body produces more ghrelin. So you then find yourself reaching out for the quickest food fix.
- Leptin – the hormone thatsuppresses appetite is markedly decreased with a lack of sleep and can even signal a state of famine which leads you to eat far more than is actually needed.
- Cortisol – your stress hormone. Partial sleep loss causes your early evening levels of this stress hormone to rise.
- Insulin – your fat-storing hormone. Elevated insulin makes fat burning almost impossible. A few nights of poor sleep can make your cells insulin resistant, leading to higher insulin levels – a risk factor for obesity & diabetes.
- Human growth hormone (GH) – this “youth” hormone prevents aging, builds muscle, and helps fat burning. Lack of sleep means you make less Growth Hormone.
Less than 7-8 hours of sleep on a regular basis adversely affects your hormones and in turn your general health and waist line.
