Your weight isn’t as simple as what you eat and how much you exercise; so many factors play a role. Sleep is one such factor that people often overlook. You may have the perfect diet and exercise routine, but if you aren’t sleeping well, you may struggle to lose weight. 

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You may have the perfect diet and exercise routine, but if you aren’t sleeping well, you may struggle to lose weight. 

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Poor sleep is common in modern society. Technology, entertainment, work schedules, stress, and other factors make it more challenging to get enough, high-quality sleep. In fact, a third or more of U.S. adults don’t get the minimum seven hours of recommended sleep, which leads to metabolic changes that we’ll discuss today. 

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Continue reading as we explore the connections between weight loss and sleep, and discover how to sleep better for the health benefits you desire. We’ll cover:

• How many hours of sleep should I get?
• Does sleeping help you lose weight?
• Can lack of sleep cause weight gain?
• Sleep and weight loss connections, including cravings, energy, and eating habits
• How to get better sleep with simple interventions and functional medicine

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How Sleep Impacts Weight Loss

Let’s start with definitions and how many hours of sleep you need. Optimal sleep timing is seven to nine hours per night, although the average sleep for adults is often less. Not only does duration matter, but sleep quality also plays a significant role. Falling asleep easily, staying asleep, and cycling through the sleep stages so you feel rested in the morning is the goal. 

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Insufficient sleep refers to a short duration of sleep, under seven hours. Both short sleep duration and poor sleep quality place stress on the body, affecting blood sugar, motivation, food choices, energy, and other parameters that influence weight. 

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Poor sleep is associated with weight gain, obesity, and chronic diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and lipid imbalances. Further, insufficient sleep makes weight loss more challenging. 

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Sleep’s Role in Maintaining a Healthy Weight

Optimal sleep and circadian rhythm are crucial for maintaining a healthy weight and metabolic health. During sleep, the body conserves energy and pushes energy use towards sleep-dependent processes such as detoxification, tissue repair, building muscle, synthesizing hormones, balancing immunity (and reducing inflammation), memory, and more. 

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Not only does insufficient sleep affect these vital processes, but it’s also a risk factor for weight gain and obesity. Those who sleep less than six hours per night have a 38% greater incidence of obesity compared to adults who sleep seven to nine hours. Higher weight in poor sleepers may be explained by how sleep affects cravings, energy, and food intake, which we’ll discuss next. 

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Those who sleep less than six hours per night have a 38% greater incidence of obesity compared to adults who sleep seven to nine hours.

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How Sleep Affects Cravings and Energy 

Even after a single night of poor sleep, you’ve likely observed the effect on energy and cravings. When you don’t sleep well, you feel tired and have low energy, which can affect your behavior. For example, after poor sleep, you may feel too tired to exercise, grocery shop, or prepare a home-cooked meal. Instead, you might be more sedentary and choose convenience foods that are fast and easy.

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Maintaining steady blood sugar also impacts energy levels and cravings, but poor sleep can lead to blood sugar fluctuations. In one study, inadequate sleep and a later bedtime were associated with larger blood sugar spikes after breakfast the next day, underscoring the connection between sleep and metabolism. Furthermore, poor sleep leads to increased cravings, particularly for processed sugar and carbohydrates, which provide a quick burst of energy. 

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Poor Sleep and Increased Food Intake

Because of low energy, more cravings, and metabolic changes, it’s no surprise that poor sleep makes you eat more food. 

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Many hormones are dependent on the daily sleep-wake cycle for production and balance, and these hormones include appetite-regulating hormones. Leptin, the “satiety hormone,” is lower with poor sleep and ghrelin, the “hunger hormone,” is often higher. The net result is that you feel hungrier after poor sleep and tend to eat more. 

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Data suggests that not getting enough sleep increases the number of calories your body needs by approximately 100 calories per day to compensate for the lost sleep. However, poor sleep also leads to an increase in the calories you eat, typically at least 250 more calories per day. One small study investigated how women respond to four nights of sleep deprivation and showed that calorie consumption, leptin, and thyroid hormones were significantly increased. 

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The positive energy balance created by poor sleep leads to weight gain over time. 

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Simple, Effective Tips for Better Sleep

Sleeping better may be the missing component in weight maintenance. However, improving sleep is often easier said than done and may come down to priorities. If you want to lose weight, you must prioritize and protect your precious sleep. Start with ways to sleep better such as:

• Setting a regular bedtime
• Limiting screens before bed
• Taking magnesium or calming herbs in the evening
• Limiting caffeine and alcohol 
• Creating boundaries with work and stressful interactions

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From a functional medicine perspective, we want to understand why you aren’t sleeping well. There may be obvious lifestyle choices impacting sleep, such as caffeine use or scrolling before bed, that we can work to change. However, in some cases, we need to dig deeper and address:

• Hormone changes such as low progesterone or high cortisol 
• Nervous system balance
• Gut microbiome health

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If you desire to lose weight, The Fork can help! We will comprehensively review the factors that contribute to weight gain or weight loss resistance, including sleep. Reach out today for more information and guidance. 

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References

1. Chaput, J. P., McHill, A. W., Cox, R. C., Broussard, J. L., Dutil, C., da Costa, B. G. G., Sampasa-Kanyinga, H., & Wright, K. P., Jr (2023). The role of insufficient sleep and circadian misalignment in obesity. Nature reviews. Endocrinology, 19(2), 82–97. 
2. Tsereteli, N., Vallat, R., Fernandez-Tajes, J., Delahanty, L. M., Ordovas, J. M., Drew, D. A., Valdes, A. M., Segata, N., Chan, A. T., Wolf, J., Berry, S. E., Walker, M. P., Spector, T. D., & Franks, P. W. (2022). Impact of insufficient sleep on dysregulated blood glucose control under standardised meal conditions. Diabetologia, 65(2), 356–365. 
3. Bosy-Westphal, A., Hinrichs, S., Jauch-Chara, K., Hitze, B., Later, W., Wilms, B., Settler, U., Peters, A., Kiosz, D., & Muller, M. J. (2008). Influence of partial sleep deprivation on energy balance and insulin sensitivity in healthy women. Obesity facts, 1(5), 266–273. 

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