Hey everyone, I’m Dr. Frank Donaruma and this is part 4 of our 7-part Video Health Tip Series on the 7 reasons you may not be losing weight.
In our last video we looked at reason #3 which was,
You may not be drinking enough water.
Today we will look at reason #4 and that is You may not be sleeping well.
My friend, Good sleep is one of the most important things to consider for your physical and mental health, as well as your weight.
Studies have shown that poor sleep is one of the single biggest risk factors for obesity. Adults and children with poor sleep have a 55% and a whopping 89% greater risk of becoming obese, respectively.
So, here are some things to consider concerning poor sleep and sleep deprivation.
Poor Sleep Changes Your Fat Cells
With just four days of sleep deprivation, your body’s ability to properly use insulin (which is the master storage hormone) becomes completely disrupted. In fact, the University of Chicago researchers found that insulin sensitivity dropped by more than 30 percent.
And Here’s why that’s bad: When your insulin is functioning well, your fat cells remove fatty acids and lipids from your blood stream and prevent storage. When you become more insulin resistant, fats circulate in your blood and pump out more insulin.
Eventually this excess insulin ends up storing fat in all the wrong places, such as tissues like your liver. And this is exactly how you become fat and suffer from diseases like diabetes.
Another thing to consider is a Lack of Rest Makes You Crave Food
Many people believe that hunger is related to willpower and learning to control the call of your stomach, but that’s incorrect. Hunger is controlled by two hormones: leptin and ghrelin. Leptin is a hormone that is produced in your fat cells. The less leptin you produce, the more your stomach feels empty. The more ghrelin you produce, the more you stimulate hunger while also reducing the amount of calories you burn and increasing the amount fat you store.
Research published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinoloy and Metabolism found that sleeping less than six hours triggers the area of your brain that increases your need for food while also depressing leptin and stimulating ghrelin.
If that’s not enough, the scientists discovered exactly how sleep loss creates an internal battle that makes it nearly impossible to lose weight. When you don’t sleep enough, your cortisol levels rise. This is the stress hormone that is frequently associated with fat gain. Cortisol also activates reward centers in your brain that make you want food.
At the same time, the loss of sleep causes your body to produce more ghrelin. A combination of high ghrelin and cortisol shut down the areas of your brain that leave you feeling satisfied after a meal, meaning you feel hungry all the time—even if you just ate a big meal.
If this is you don’t lose hope, I have helped hundreds of patients overcome sleep disorders with great success.
So, if you think poor sleep is an issue for you, then speak to your doctor or call us at 908-279-7740 for a free consultation. Why?
Because, we at NewLife are in the business of transforming lives to transform the world!