Can Sleeping Enough Make You Skinny?

It's no secret that not sleeping enough - which is typically considered to be less than seven hours of sleep per night - can cause weight gain, even if you're on a weight oss diet. For example, in research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, dieters were put on different sleep schedules comprised of adequate sleep (7+ hours per night) and not quite enough sleep (less than 7 hours per night). With adequate sleep, half of the weight the dieters lost was from fat, not muscle, and furthermore, those on a sleep-deprived diet experienced 55% less fat loss! The sleep-deprived group also felt significantly hungrier, had less satisfaction after meals, and lacked enough energy to exercise. There are a few biological mechanisms that explain why not sleeping enough can make you fat or disrupt your diet. For example, within just four days of sleep deprivation, your body's ability to properly respond to insulin signals begins to diminish (University of Chicago researchers found a 30% drop insulin sensitivity caused by lack of sleep). When you're not responsive to insulin, fat cells are far less able to release fatty acids and lipids to produce energy, blood glucose remains higher, and any extra fats and sugars circulating in your blood cause you to pump out even more insulin. Eventually, all this excess insulin causes you to begin storing fat in all the wrong places, including tissues like your liver, leading to issues such as fatty liver and diabetes. But insulin isn't th...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news