On first read, the headline,doesn’t seem to make much sense, but your opinion might change when you consider we digest most of our food while we sleep. That’s without mentioning all the people who don’t get enough sleep and eat more food during the day to make up for the energy gap.
To the dismay of many experts in physical training and physical therapy Minnesota a new study suggests that if people want to lose weight, it is important for them to have healthy sleeping habits.
The study, published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, was based on review of literature on partial sleep deprivation on energy balance and weight regulation published between 1996 and 2011. A review of all the articles published during this period showed that people who were deprived of sleep had reduced insulin sensitivity along with increases in ghrelin and decreases in leptin.
Among scientists, ghrelin is known as the “hunger hormone” that makes people want to eat food. Leptin, on the other hand, reduces food intake and encourages weight loss. Loss of sleep changes the balance of these hormones, increasing levels of ghrelin and decreasing levels of the weight loss promoter leptin hormone.
Physical therapist Minnesota have noted that while sleep is important for healthy living, so are proper diet and exercise. Researchers concluded that lifestyle changes like healthy eating and exercise can help people lose weight, but maintaining good sleep habits can get people to manage their weight better.
“Changes in these hormones coinciding with an energy-reduced diet paired with changes in response to partial sleep deprivation may be expected to increase ghrelin and decrease leptin concentrations even further to promote hunger,” said Sharon M. Nickols-Richardson, PhD, MD, professor, Department of Nutritional Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park.
U.S. government health officials reported that almost one third of U.S. residents are sleep deprived. Previous research published in the journal Obesity, says that short sleep duration was found to be independently associated with weight gain among all age groups. Experts recommend adults get at least 6-7 hours of sleep every night.