Study: Sleep deprivation leads to weight gain

 

"When people were sleep deprived, they ate an extra 549 calories per day," says researcher Andrew Calvin, MD, MPH, a fellow in cardiovascular disease and assistant professor of medicine at Mayo Clinic, Rochester.

How true is that?

Calvin held a study on 17 men and women, ages 18 to 40, for a total of eight days at a sleep lab. They were each randomly assigned to sleep as much as they wanted or to sleep only two-thirds of their normal sleep time.

Everyone has access to as much food as they wanted. Food intake was logged.

While the sleep-deprived group ate the extra 549 calories daily, the comparison group actually ate about 143 fewer calories daily than usual.

The researchers tracked how active each group was. But they didn't find much difference in activity expenditure between both groups.

Sleep deprivation was linked with somewhat levels of leptin, the hormone that tells your brain you are full. 

It is linked to somewhat lower levels of ghrelin, the hormone that tells your brain you are hungry. The findings found the leptin levels went up and the ghrelin levels went down in the sleep-deprived group.

When this study was compared with previous findings, it was found to be consistently pointing that there are possible links of sleep deprivation to increase intake of calories.

This could be the contributing factor to the alarming rate of obesity rate increasing in the city as people continue to face stress and have poor lifestyle that leads to sleeplessness.

Have you noticed that your weight have been fluctuating for the past 3 months?

If yes, do seek help today. With proper monitoring of diet and lifestyle, there is a possibility of maintaining a good body shape and weight without having to lose weight artificially.

Leave a comment if you find that this article helps you.

Read also:                  
Sleeplessness: How does it affect you?
Sleep routines that HELP you sleep better
Sleep deprivation will lead to TYPE 2 diabetes

Opt-in to my mailing list and get in touch with me for a wellness screening to better understand the condition of your body which may be affecting your quality of sleep every day.

I wish you a good night's sleep,

 

Top reasons to cut down on your salt intake

Singaporeans are consuming more salt than they should and Minister of State for health said the findings of the survey were "a cause for concern". In general, men were found to consume about 9.6g a day, while women consumed about 7.1g a day which is more than 60 per cent above the recommended level of 5g a day for adults. This is particularly important in Singapore, because "6 in 10 people actually eat out at least four times a week".

Could cutting salt intake reduce symptoms of depression, anxiety and insomnia?

A low salt diet may improve conditions such as anxiety, irritability, depression, fatigue and migraine headache the findings of an investigation of a low salt diet for “insomnia and tension states” was published in the Journal of the American Association in 1945 (1). Patients with “pronounced insomnia, nervous tension, anxiety and increased emotional liability” were instructed to follow a low salt diet with striking results.

After just four to seven days of the low salt diet the “majority of patients began to exhibit a gradual decline in nervous tension, activity drive and restlessness, accompanied by an increased ability to fall asleep and general improvement in the character of sleep.

It was noted that subjects “tended to retire at an earlier hour, usually falling asleep within ten to fifteen minutes and sleeping soundly until wakened at 6am.” Over a period of weeks the low salt diet also improved blood pressure, brain wave activity and concentration while reducing emotional reactivity and vivid dreaming.

What action can YOU take?

1. Start from the food that you eat- excess salt and sugar damage the blood vessels, leading to decreased blood flow. Excess saturated fat and trans fat can clog veins and arteries and impede circulation. In order to improve poor blood circulation, avoid canned foods and deep-fried foods, which often contain trans fats. When your circulation improves, the quality of your sleep will improve.
2. Exercise- to get rid of toxins and calories by sweating and thereby eliminating salt.
3. Drink plenty of water- removes the toxins by flushing it out of the body.

References:

Miller, M. Low sodium chloride intake in the treatment of insomnia and tension states. JAMA. 1945. 129; 4: 262-266.

Read also:
                  Sleeplessness: How does it affect you?
                  Sleep routines that HELP you sleep better
                  Sleep deprivation will lead to TYPE 2 diabetes

Opt-in to my mailing list and get in touch with me for a wellness screening to better understand the condition of your body which may be affecting your quality of sleep every day. 

Sleep deprivation will lead to TYPE 2 diabetes

Extracting from the article published in The Straits Times, it is alarming that “Last year, 11.3 per cent of the population had diabetes, up from 9 per cent in 2004, according to National Health Survey.” Most sufferers have Type 2 diabetes- the kind linked to poor diet, obesity, lack of exercise and lifestyle- and the problem is spreading as “people in the developing world adopt more Western lifestyles.”

Diabetics have inadequate blood sugar control, which can lead to serious complications like heart disease and stroke, damage to the kidneys or nerves, and blindness. However, many are caught unaware when they are developing prediabetes symptoms which eventually lead to diabetes in less than 5 years later. 


Before people develop Type 2 diabetes, they almost always have "prediabetes"—blood glucose levels that are higher than normal but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. 

One of the crucial factors which can lead to diabetes is poor sleep. Lack of sleep also reduces the release of appetite controlling chemicals in our body. This causes obesity and paves path for type2 diabetes. Sleeping less than six hours each weeknight makes you four-and-a-half times more likely to develop prediabetes, according to a study presented at a recent American Heart Association conference.

Prediabetes already afflicts 57 million Americans, and 25% of them will develop Type 2 diabetes. The researchers say sleep may be crucial in helping manage hormones that control blood sugar. These are some symptoms you could look out for if you are concerned whether you are at risk:

•   increase in urination
•  increased feeling of thirst
•  marked weight loss
•  feeling of being ill

Fortunately, pre-diabetes does not automatically become irreversible Type 2 diabetes if one can correct their lifestyle changes to a healthier one with nutritious diet, adequate sleep and a regular exercise routine.

By the above discussion we can conclude that diabetic patients need to keep an eye on their sleep habits and also pre-diabetics who are at risk for conversion to Type 2 diabetes. A sound sleep always improves your general health and reduces the risk of diabetes as well as other diseases. 


No one can deny or undermine the refreshing importance of sound sleep. Isn’t it so?

Opt-in to my mailing list and get in touch with me for a wellness screening to better understand the condition of your body which may be affecting your quality of sleep every day.