Is Sleep Affecting Your Weight?
We all know the feeling of lying awake and all we can think about is how tired we will be tomorrow. Our brain won’t stop no matter how hard we try, and we lie there wishing, willing, waiting for sleep to come. Ugh. It’s a waking nightmare!
Unfortunately, this lack of sleep might well be causing you to put on weight or preventing you from losing it!
Increasing hunger: you have probably experienced this already! It’s an actual physiological response to lack of sleep. Hunger hormones increase so you are hungrier. It’s also in response to lowered energy levels. If your body can’t get energy one way it looks to find another quick energy source- think sugar, refined carbs, and caffeine.
Increasing cortisol/stress: lack of sleep absolutely stresses the body out. The stress hormone cortisol releases the stored glucose from the liver for a quick energy boost to support that fight and flight response. While this sounds ok it contributes to insulin resistance by keeping blood sugar levels elevated. See the next point for more info on this!
Decreased insulin sensitivity (aka insulin resistance): Sleep deprivation results in decreased insulin sensitivity that becomes insulin resistance if it keeps happening. Insulin resistance means the cells are starving increasing cravings and fatigue but also increased belly fat and inflammation.
I can hear you ‘I’ve tried everything, and I just can’t sleep! It’s out of my control.’ And I believe you!
But there are so many factors at play here. Sometimes it is our own doing with lifestyle playing a significant factor, sometimes it is hormonal and sometimes it’s stress. Other times it’s factors we aren’t even aware of!
Let’s take a look at what we can do about all of this!
Nighttime routines: We all like a sneaking doom scroll or Netflix binge but the reality is that blue light is affecting your sleep. It’s like daylight to your brain. It also means the brain isn’t switching gears so none of the lovely calming chemicals that should be flooding our body at bedtime really are. You can’t just flip a switch to relax.
Start your nighttime routine about 2 hours before bed. Put the phone or screen down, make a cup of chamomile or sleepy tea. Get an easy-to-read book or do a short sleep meditation. Maybe you would like to have a warm bath or shower. You can dim the lights, burn some lavender…create a quiet, relaxed space for yourself that is as unstimulating as possible.
Day time routines: We forget that sleep starts with waking…I know! Weird hey! But here’s the thing, you need to have regulated sleep hormones in order to sleep at night. And it’s our daytime routine that helps that!
Getting early morning sun helps our melatonin production start earlier in the evening so we drift off to sleep more quickly at night. A little sun each day also promotes vitamin D. Low vitamin D is also implicated in insomnia.
Stress resilience: We can’t avoid stress, but we can support stress resilience to cope better with it. Stress dysregulates cortisol and puts us in a fight and flight state.
Creating stress resilience incorporates the last 2 points but other things you can do to help include gratitude journals, meditation, seeking professional help from counsellors or psychologists. You absolutely can take herbs and supplements and homeopathics to support stress resilience but seek out professional advice, so you aren’t wasting your money. Get a targeted approach!
Putting these things in place is not a quick fix. It’s a long-term process but if it means you will sleep better, have more energy, release weight, and just feel a whole lot better…isn’t the journey worth it?
If you are needing more support with your weight, a plan that incorporates food and lifestyle then drop me a message! I have the program for you! Metabolic Magic is a perfect combination of Metabolic Balance food-based plan plus resources and appointments to support you to get long term results.
Drop me a message on 0402 804 591 or sarah@simplyhealing.net.au