The direct impact of sleep and stress on your weight
Photo by Maddi Bazzocco on Unsplash
There is a direct connection between sleep and weight and stress and weight. Knowing how these connections affect you can make you break out of a vicious circle and regain more energy, be more relaxed and shed this unwanted weight.
Sleep and weight
When you understand the impact of sleep on your weight, you might reconsider your sleep habits and enjoy your bedtime.
When you are tired, you will lack energy at one point of the day. Your brain wants you good and will send out messages to get energy quickly, in form of simple carbs as quick fuel. Unfortunately, this means a spike and crash of your blood sugar levels, without mentioning a load of calories. You will go for this sugary fatty snack, which not only tastes great but will also comfort you.
Lack of sleep will make you succumb to unhealthy foods and your cravings for foods high in fats and sugars, but also an increase of the amount of food you eat, will spike.
The reason behind this is that your hormones, especially the hunger hormone ghrelin, are produced in greater amounts when you lack sleep. Ghrelin is responsible for high-calorie sweets and junk food cravings.
Another downsize of poor sleep is less energy, thus less healthy activities. If you’re tired, you most probably won’t exercise and go for the quick and easy option of take-away lunch or dinner or go for the easy just heat it up processed meal.
Stress and weight
Stress will impact you in many different ways, and is also related to poor sleep. So here you have the negative bonus of stress and sleep to impact your weight.
But the main impact of stress is due to cortisol. Cortisol is the stress hormone and when your cortisol levels go up, as a result, glucose – your primary source of energy – is released into your bloodstream. All of this is done to give you the energy you need to escape from a risky situation, known as the fight or flight response.
As sugar supplies your body with the quick energy it thinks it needs, it's often the first thing you reach for when you're stressed. The problem is that your body will store sugar, especially in and after a stressful situation. And that will come as abdominal fat, which is particularly difficult to get rid of.
And even if you aren't eating foods high in fat and sugar, know that cortisol also slows down your metabolism, making it difficult to lose weight.
And the vicious cycle starts: stress, release of cortisol, weight gain, more sugar cravings, eating more sugar, sleeping less, release of ghrelin, more weight gain.
So what can you do to break the cycle?
Start by improving your sleep and find other mechanisms to bring your cortisol levels down when you are stressed.
Set up a healthy sleep routine – so that you recharge your body and energy.
Make exercise a priority – it will lower your stress levels and help you sleep better.
Drink more water – on one side we often confuse thirst for hunger, and on the other side, a slight dehydration will make us feel tired and sluggish.
Healthier food choices – make sure your pantry is stocked with healthy types of foods, as it will make it easier to grab a healthier option during times of high stress.
And breathe – it will instantly bring your cortisol levels down and help you be more relaxed.
