Nowadays, people are very concerned about their physique. They want to look fit and lean. In today’s time, they do not tend to focus on what we eat and hardly get time to exercise due to busy schedule. Owing to these factors, people are gaining unhealthy weight, often falling prey to obesity.
When it comes to weight loss, people focus only on diet and exercise. However, a report published on sciencealert.com has highlighted that proper sleep also plays a very crucial role in reducing extra weight. The report has cited two studies.
If a person is not taking proper sleep of seven to nine hours each day, he or she may gain weight. Sleep directly affects metabolism, appetite and food selection.
There are two important appetite hormones in a human body, leptin and ghrelin. These hormones are influenced by sleep. Leptin is responsible for decreasing appetite, while ghrelin stimulates hunger.
In case of lack of sleep, level of ghrelin increases, while that of leptin decreases. Owing to this, hunger increases and people find it difficult to stick to calorie-restriction, leading to weight gain.
Less sleep impacts food selection as well. When a person is sleep deprived, the areas of his brain responsible for reward become more active in terms of food selection. This could be attributed to selection of carbohydrate-rich foods and sweet-tasting snacks.
Apart from all this, reduced sleep particularly affects glucose (sugar) metabolism. When someone eats food, insulin is released. It is a hormone that helps to process the glucose in the body.
If a person is not taking required sleep, then his body’s ability to uptake glucose reduces. In the long term, this could lead to obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Sleeping less than required have influences on body fat and increased risk of obesity. Besides, even if someone is on a calorie-controlled diet and not taking proper sleep, his body may not lose weight easily.
