Lack of sleep may hinder your weight loss efforts and even cause you to gain weight. Aim for seven to nine hours of sleep a night to prevent weight gain, as well as decrease the risk of diabetes, heart problems and psychiatric conditions. To make it easier to fall asleep, establish a consistent sleep schedule. Relax with a bedtime routine, such as taking a warm bath then listening to soothing music.
Effects
Lack of sleep may lead to weight gain, according to a 2006 study in the American Journal of Epidemiology. Sanjay R. Patel and colleagues asked 68,183 women in the Nurses' Health Study to report usual sleep and subsequent weight gain for 16 years. Women sleeping 5 hours per night gained more weight than those sleeping 6 hours, and those sleeping 6 hours per night gained more weight than those sleeping 7 hours or more.
Hormones
Lack of sleep may reduce leptin levels and increase ghrelin levels, according to a 2004 study in PLoS Medicine. Leptin and ghrelin are hormones that regulate appetite. The study involved 1,024 volunteers from the Wisconsin Sleep Cohort Study, a population-based longitudinal study of sleep disorders. Shahrad Taheri and colleagues suggested that reduced leptin and increased ghrelin is likely to increase appetite and that a lack of sleep may lead to obesity in Western societies, where food is widely available.
Fat Loss
Dieters who don't get enough sleep may lose more muscle and less fat, compared with those who are losing weight while getting enough shut-eye, according to a 2010 Annals of Internal Medicine study. In the study, 10 overweight men and women lived in a sleep lab and followed a calorie-restricted diet for two separate two-week periods. In one session, they got 5.5 hours of sleep a night, and in one session, they slept for 8.5 hours. While they lost around 7 lbs. on average in both conditions, more than half of their weight loss was fat when they were getting enough sleep. When they were getting only 5.5 hours of sleep, only one-quarter of their weight loss was fat. Senior researcher Dr. Plamen Penev and colleagues theorized that lack of sleep increases the need for glucose in the brain and other parts of the nervous system, so the body gains glucose by breaking down muscles.
Hunger
The Annals of Internal Medicine study found that dieters who weren't getting enough sleep reported being more hungry than those who were sleeping 8.5 hours, even though they were consuming the same number of calories. They also had higher blood levels of acylated ghrelin, a form of the appetite-boosting hormone.
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