Sleep – Its Role In Weight Loss

Recent research suggests that there is a link between sleep and body mass index (BMI). Those who sleep less every night tend to have a higher BMI than those who get more sleep. Another link has been found between sleep and the hormones that influence our eating behaviour – ghrelin and leptin.

Leptin tells us when it’s time to stop eating and ghrelin triggers feelings of hunger. Those that have less sleep than they should, tend to have lower levels of leptin and higher levels of ghrelin. The overall result is that the appetite is stimulated by the ghrelin and not suppressed by the leptin so sleep deprived people eat more than they should. Not only that, they also tend to very unhealthy snacks that contain lots of salt, starch and sugar.

So, is simply getting more sleep the answer to weight loss? Unfortunately, no - but all indications show that sleep has a role to play in helping the body’s weight management. If you want to lose weight as part of a weight loss plan, you should make sure that you are consistently getting enough sleep every night. This means between seven and nine hours, some need more, others less.