Sleep is the third pillar for weight loss, along with diet and exercise; if you don't get 6-8 hours a night, your gut produces more hunger hormones. Watch weight loss specialist Caroline Apovian, MD, explain why sleep is key for weight loss.
So sleep is the third pillar for weight loss and weight maintenance, maintenance of a healthy weight while the other two, diet, exercise, number three we now know is sleep. There are studies that have shown that if you don't get six to eight hours a night atleast, your gut hormones get revved up and what does that mean? You get increased levels of the hunger hormones and what are they, cortisol and ghlerin.
Cortisol is produced, it's the stress hormone so if you don't sleep enough your body thinks it's under siege, under stress and builds up the cortisol levels, cortisol goes to the brain and makes you hungry. The other hunger hormone is ghlerin, ghlerin is produced in the stomach, usually produced right before you eat, makes you hungry, but if you don't sleep enough your ghlerin levels are up all day long the next day and you have heaviness.
So get a good night sleep, it will help you maintain a healthy weight.
Caroline Apovian, MD is the director of the Nutrition and Weight Management Center at Boston Medical Center and director of Clinical Research at the Obesity Research Center at the Boston University Medical Campus.
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