Do you want to know how to lose weight fast? Be aware of how much you sleep. Much research has been done on the connection between lack of sleep and its effects on weight gain. For a long time, it was known that people who slept less or had trouble sleeping at night tended to gain weight. Therefore, many studies have been conducted to discover the factors that link sleep loss to weight gain.
Researchers have found that the quantity and quality of sleep you get at night has a profound influence on your body’s hormonal activity, which is tied to your appetite. Ghrelin and leptin are the two hormones that affect our appetite and tell us when to eat and when to stop.
Ghrelin is a hormone that is produced in the gastrointestinal tract. It tells the body when it needs to eat. When you can’t sleep, your body makes more ghrelin. So when you are awake, you naturally tend to search for more food more often. In fact, most people who feel sleepy during the day have a cup of coffee or a snack to cool off. This can happen several times a day, causing them to unconsciously gain weight.
The other sleep hormone involved in weight loss is leptin, which is basically produced in fat cells. Leptin sends signals to your brain and tells you to stop eating when your stomach is full. When you sleep less, your body makes less leptin. Therefore, the signal to your body to stop eating is quite weak. This allows you to continue eating conveniently, which again results in weight gain.
Since lack of sleep causes more ghrelin production and less leptin, you begin to eat more. When you are sleep deprived, your metabolism also slows down, making it difficult for your body to burn excess fat. Both of these factors eventually cause you to gain weight over a period of time.
To reverse this situation, you need to make sure that your body gets enough sleep. Also, the quality and quantity of sleep are important. With a good night’s rest, your ghrelin and leptin levels will return to normal and your body will automatically lose weight. At the very least, your body will stop gaining weight due to lack of sleep.