“Sleep is to regenerate the brain.” That phrase is a maxim that is repeated in the most advanced training courses for leaders. Rest is as important to effective performance as training or skills. Sleep occupies almost a third of our lives and has effects on our character, our health and even our weight. While we sleep, our body performs repairing and conservative functions that have an impact on metabolism, fat burning and muscle recovery. According to research conducted by experts from the University of Chicago, while we are dieting, sleeping for a long time with full rest leads to greater fat loss. According to the conclusions of this study, if we reduce the duration of sleep by 3 hours (from eight and a half hours to five and a half), the weight lost is equivalent, but only half the fat is burned.
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The relationship between restful sleep and weight loss focuses on hormonal action. There are two hormones that regulate the feeling of hunger and satiety, called ghrelin and leptin. The secretion of these hormones is affected by lack of sleep. Ghrelin is also known as the “hunger hormone.” Leyre López Iranzu, a nutritionist at the FEMM Clinic, explains that when you don’t rest well, lack of sleep means that the hormone levels responsible for regulating appetite and satiety (ghrelin and leptin) do not work properly. “If we have not rested well, the levels are altered and there is not a correct hormonal balance. And that means that hunger increases, we eat more and generally choose unhealthy options. By not resting well, we may be more stressed because we cannot reconcile the sleep and this causes cortisol levels to rise,” he told MagasIN. The expert adds that “sleeping little or sleeping poorly also causes other problems such as lack of attention, concentration and memory, and increases the likelihood of being overweight, because generally we don’t feel like moving if we haven’t rested well.” However, when we have adequate rest with an average of between 7 and 8 hours a day, the levels of both hormones are maintained at an adequate level. The consequences are favorable in weight reduction, since they increase energy consumption and reduce the feeling of appetite, also increasing energy consumption. Laura Fonseca, a nutritionist at NATURHOUSE also quantifies fat burning: “Sleeping well helps speed up metabolism, consuming calories in the process, approximately 1 calorie per hour for every kilo of weight. Thus, an average person of 70 kilos will burn about 560 calories if he sleeps peacefully for 8 hours. She insists, like the rest of the professionals, on the fact that “a restful sleep makes us wake up every morning with the ‘batteries’ charged, increasing our physical performance, regulating blood pressure, reducing inflammation in the body, improving health emotional and combating stress.
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Autophagy The specialist in integrative nutrition, Cristina Barrous, exposes the reality in a way that we can all understand it: “Sleeping is not what makes you lose weight. It is the rest itself, but not the mere fact of sleeping. That you sleep more does not mean that you are going to lose weight. Barrous argues the diverse factors that concur: “The more you sleep, the less you eat. In the time that you are sleeping or working or exercising, you are not eating. Also, when the body rests, it carries out a process called autophagy. It is a process to dispose of dead cells, any type of free radical: this is how the body purges itself, cleanses itself. This obviously has an anti-inflammatory effect. It means eliminating any substance that could inflame me and I will feel more deflated and I will have better digestion”. By having good autophagy, adds Barrous, “my body has less tendency to become inflamed and the microbiota will balance itself, carrying out a correct absorption of nutrients. This implies that one is sated when one has to feel satiated”. In this way, Laura Fonseca gives some important guidelines so that rest is adequate: “For a quantity and quality sleep, the ideal is to have a period of relaxation before going to bed. and do it at prudent times, avoid copious and very late dinners, do not go to bed hungry, avoid stimulants such as alcohol or coffee, take care of light, noise and temperature in the bedroom, turn off electronic devices before going to bed and keep a regular sleep schedule”. Research supports this. Different scientific forums specify the need for proper rest in people who are following a diet with the intention of losing weight. They ensure that in this way, they eat less food and also burn more Fats During Sleep Hours Study Increased Hunger, Food Cravings, Food Reward, and Portion Size Selection after Sleep Curtailment in Women Without Obesity, published in Nutrie nts assures that the reduction of sleep by 33% produces negative changes in behavior and in the selection of foods with a visible inclination towards the less healthy and those that suppose a greater caloric intake. In the United States they carry out constant studies on this subject. The Guardian explains that recent research has concluded that those who usually sleep less than six and a half hours a day eat up to 270 more calories than those who rest an extra 72 minutes. This research showed that if the increase in sleep of 72 minutes continues for three years, this habit alone could lead to a weight loss of approximately 12 kilos without changing the diet. The result of the investigation credited the reduction of the consumption of calories in 500 daily in some participants. Hormonal stability The feeling of rest helps in carrying out exercise and sports routines that usually accompany a healthy diet and supervised by health personnel. The day does not start with the same energy after a restful sleep as after hours of insomnia trying to rest without success. This also causes stress that leads again to the feeling of increased appetite. In short, lack of sleep affects our metabolism and hinders weight loss processes. According to psychologist Berta Navarro, creator of the Sieber method, “a body that rests enough is in the best conditions to get rid of excess fat.”
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To what we have explained about leptin and ghrelin, it should be added that lack of sleep also affects the brain, a phrase with which we began this article. But in addition to the brain, hormones that regulate metabolism are affected. Metabolic stunning means that the body cannot properly regulate insulin and glucose levels in the blood. Thus, lipids begin to circulate freely and accumulate in excessive amounts, leading to overweight and obesity. Lack of sleep affects cortisol levels and produces an increase in caloric intake. Not in vain it is the stress hormone. Lack of sleep affects almost all aspects of our body, including thermoregulation. Body temperature is associated with the risk of obesity because it conditions energy expenditure. Poor or little sleep can alter the body’s thermal rhythms and cause the body temperature to drop.Follow the topics that interest you