Sleep seems to be vital in a healthy weight loss protocol. A new study funded by the National Institutes of Health examined how "recurrent bedtime restriction" affected the amount of weight people lost when dieting, along with its affects on ghrelin serum concentrations.
10 overweight nonsmoking adults were used in the study; they were two different sleep times that were looked at 8.5 hours and 5.5 hours a night. The study was done in a sleep laboratory where the adults were sedentary and spent their time doing home office work. The outcome showed that reducing sleep decreased the proportion of weight loss as fat by 55%.
The results also showed that less sleep resulted in increased hunger and lower resting metabolic rate. The hormone ghrelin was elevated in people who got less sleep. This hormone has been showed to reduce energy expenditure, stimulate hunger and food intake along with promoting the retention of fat and increase glucose production.
Weight loss is something we all strive for, some want to lose 5lbs other wants to lose much more. The best and healthiest way of losing weight is to make life style changes. Exercise, diet, sleep and attitude all are vital in weight loss. Too few calories and too little sleep will deter any positive weight loss progression. The body needs calories to maintain all of its metabolic processes, too few calories and the body thinks it is in starvation mode. When the body feels as though it is in starvation it will hold on to all calories, fat, energy that it can because it does not know when it is going to get the next meal.
Do you need help losing weight or maintaining your weight over the holidays? Please give me a call (415) 912-9934 and see how naturopathic medicine can help you with your weight loss goal.
Reference: Insufficient Sleep Thwarts Weight Loss Efforts, by Fran Lowry