Diving Deeper Into Weight Loss: The Truth about Sleep and Weight Loss

By Dr. Susan Walker, ND

With more of an understanding regarding many factors that can affect weight loss, the importance of sleep can’t be overemphasized. It’s understandable that when you discuss weight loss with your Health Coach, most of the focus is on the amount of food you’re eating and your exercise level. However, as evidenced from the article on cortisol and weight loss we understand that there are many factors that come into play when you’re trying to lose weight, and proper sleep is up there on the list of factors to assess. As a client at U Weight Loss®, it is important that you understand the vital role sleep plays as part of a comprehensive lifestyle change program, so that you can develop better habits for optimal health.

Why Is Sleep so Necessary?

According to the National Sleep Foundation, sleep is essential for a person’s health and wellbeing, yet millions of people don’t get enough sleep and many suffer from lack of sleep. Historically, sleep was thought to be a passive state. However, sleep is now known to be a dynamic process, as our brains are active during sleep. Sleep affects our physical and mental health and is essential for the normal functioning of all the systems within our body, including the immune system. The effect of sleep on the immune system affects your ability to fight disease and illness. In humans, it has been demonstrated that the metabolic activity of the brain decreases after 24 hours of being awake. Your body rebuilds and repairs itself during deep sleep, especially your bones, skin and muscles. Release of growth hormone in children and young adults takes place during deep sleep. Growth hormone is released from a gland in the brain and it affects almost every cell in the body stimulating growth and cell production. It is also popular in anti-aging medicine, as production of the hormone decreases with age. The effects of growth hormone include a decrease in body fat, increase in muscle mass, increase in bone density and energy levels, improved skin tone and texture, and improved immune function. Sleep helps us maintain optimal emotional and social functioning while we are awake by giving rest to the parts of the brain that control emotions and social interactions.

How Much Sleep?

In adults, about 8 hours is enough to help restore the body to optimal function. In some cultures, total sleep is often divided into an overnight sleep period of 6-7 hours and a nap of 1-2 hours. Some people may need as little as 5 hours or as much as 10 hours of sleep every day. The period of time a person sleeps depends also on whether he or she has been deprived of sleep in previous days. Sleeping too little creates a "sleep debt." This debt needs to be adjusted by sleeping for longer periods over the next few days. People who sleep less have an impairment of judgment and reaction time.

Sleep Deprived

What happens when you don’t get enough sleep? Most people function on less than optimal amounts on a regular basis and it’s considered to be normal. However, lack of sleep has some negative consequences to health. Sleep deprivation results in a decrease in body temperature, immune system function and in the release of growth hormone. For our nervous system to work properly, sleep is needed and the lack of it makes a person drowsy and unable to concentrate the next day. It also leads to impairment of memory and physical performance and if you continue to get less sleep, hallucinations and mood swings may develop.

Stress is the number one cause of short-term sleeping difficulties, according to sleep experts. This can include anything from school or job related pressures, to marriage problems and serious illness. If stress is the culprit, sleep problems disappear when the stressful situation passes. However, if short-term sleep problems, such as insomnia, aren’t managed properly from the beginning, they can remain long after the original stress has passed. Other sleep disrupters include drinking alcohol or beverages containing caffeine in the afternoon or evening, exercising close to bedtime and working or doing other mentally intense activities right before or after getting into bed. Additionally, environmental factors such as a room that’s too hot or cold, too noisy or too brightly lit, can be a barrier to sound sleep, as well as interruptions from children or other family members.

Substances That Alter Sleep

Because sleep and wakefulness are influenced by different neurotransmitters in the brain, some substances can change the balance of these neurotransmitters and affect our sleep and wakefulness. Caffeinated drinks and certain medicines stimulate some parts of the brain and can cause difficulty in falling asleep. Many drugs prescribed for the treatment of depression suppress specific phases of the sleep cycle. Heavy smokers tend to wake up after 3 or 4 hours of sleep due to nicotine withdrawal. Some people who have insomnia may use alcohol. Even though alcohol may help people to fall into light sleep, it deprives them of the deeper and more restorative stages of sleep. Instead, it keeps them in the lighter stages of sleep from which they can be awakened easily.

Sleep and Weight Loss

If you’ve been asked about sleep by your Health Coach, you may have thought "what does my sleep have to do with weight loss?" The reality is that it could be that missing link to reaching your target weight. Lack of sleep can result in excess stress hormones and reduced growth hormone. This is an equation for weight gain. Some of the effects of excess cortisol result in an increased appetite, insulin levels and carbohydrates cravings, as well as a lowered metabolism and weight gain – especially around the midsection. In addition, sleep influences appetite. Lack of sleep has been reported to increase appetite-enhancing hormones and decrease appetite-curbing hormones resulting in a desire for high-calorie, high-sugar foods. Also, people who sleep less may have more trouble keeping their blood sugar stable. In one study, healthy young men were restricted to four hours of sleep per night for six nights in a row and were found to have blood test results for insulin sensitivity so abnormal, they almost matched those of diabetics.

How U Weight Loss® can Help

It is our goal at U Weight Loss® to help you become successful in achieving your weight loss goals in every way possible. This task requires that we take a holistic view of what is going on in your life that could possibly hinder your success and then offer suggestions that can help with your weight loss. If you are asked about your sleeping habits, it is an essential part of digging deeper into your lifestyle to gain a better understanding of why you may or may not be losing weight efficiently, or what may be contributing to your current state of health. Copyright © 2009 by U Weight Loss® Clinic. All Rights Reserved. Page 5 of 10

How do you know if you may be sleep deprived? Asking a few simple questions can help. These questions are by no means diagnostic of a sleep problem, but they’re a good guideline for you to get a sense of your sleeping habits.

1. Do you need an alarm clock in order to wake up in time for work or school?

2. Is it a struggle for you to get out of bed in the morning?

3. Do you hit the snooze bar several times to get more sleep?

4. Do you feel tired, irritable and stressed out during the week?

5. Do you have trouble concentrating and remembering things?

6. Do you feel slow with critical thinking, solving problems and being creative?

7. Do you often fall asleep within minutes of getting into bed?

8. Do you often feel drowsy while driving?

9. When you are driving and reach your destination, do you often not remember how you got there?

10. Do you often fall asleep in boring classes or meetings, or in warm rooms?

11. Do you need a nap when you get home from work or school?

12. Do you often sleep an extra few hours on weekends?

13. Do you often have dark circles underneath your eyes?

If you answer "yes" to 2 or more of these questions you could be deprived of sleep and not functioning at your optimal level.

How To Get Better Sleep

1. Develop a calming, night-time routine. This is important as too much stimulation before bed can actually increase cortisol levels in the evening. Relaxing routines can train the body and mind to relax setting the stage for restful sleep and can include things like hot baths or showers, meditation and prayer, reading a good book or stretching exercises.

2. Avoid exercising late at night. By this we mean 3-4 hours before bedtime. Exercise naturally increases cortisol levels for a short period of time and can contribute to your inability to fall asleep.

3. Try to fall asleep in complete darkness. Any light, whether it is from the television, alarm clock or a charging cell phone can reduce the body’s production of melatonin (an important hormone that is released that helps regulate the body’s sleep/wake cycles).

4. The ideal time to be in bed and asleep is between 10 pm and 12 am. Those are the times when cortisol levels are naturally lowest for the day, and is an optimal time for the recharging of the body’s stress glands (the adrenal glands).

5. If you use the bathroom at night, keep the lights off. Even a brief exposure to light can reduce the production of melatonin.

6. Limit caffeine intake. People have individual tolerances for caffeine and it affects them at different rates.

Some people can drink 4-5 cups of coffee on a daily basis and be able to get a good night’s sleep, while one cup will cause someone else to feel jittery and awake all day. This is because of the time it takes for caffeine to be cleared from the body. A dose of caffeine will usually take about 15-30 minutes to take effect and can last from 4-5 hours. In some, this will last for a shorter period of time, while others, much longer. If you are going to consume any caffeine you should limit it to small amounts in the morning. It will ensure that the caffeine is cleared from the body in adequate time for sleep.

7. You should stop eating a minimum of 3 hours before you go to bed, as to ensure that the food is adequately digested before lying down. Oftentimes, indigestion and digestive complaints can be a hindrance to a good night’s sleep, as the body is focusing on digesting food rather than repairing.

8. Avoid or minimize alcohol in the evening. While alcohol does initially relax the body and cause you to feel drowsy, the effect on sleep is usually detrimental. It can prevent you from falling into the deeper stages of restorative sleep.

The connection between a good night’s sleep and efficient weight loss is well established and is something that shouldn’t be overlooked when your lifestyle is being evaluated. At U Weight Loss®, our goal is to help you become successful by providing a holistic approach to weight loss, in which non-nutrition factors need to be examined and addressed in order for you to reach your goals.

Reduced cortisol levels and better ability to handle stress

Calm nervous system

Reduced Insulin

Reduced inflammation

Increased testosterone and growth hormone production

and fat-burning ability

Increased thyroid hormone to help increase metabolism

Better appetite control