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How much you sleep may impact your body weight, your
appetite, and your ability to lose weight.
Not getting enough sleep causes changes in hormones which control not only
your appetite but also the foods you crave and your body metabolism. The
results from over 1000 subjects in the Wisconsin
Sleep Cohort Study found significantly lower leptin, higher ghrelin and
higher BMI measures in sleep-deprived subjects. Both leptin and ghrelin regulate
appetite, the types of foods you eat, and the size of your fat cells. Subjects
who slept five hours per night were significantly heavier and more likely to be
obese than those who slept eight hours per night.
In normal weight people leptin controls how much fat and calories taken in.
When leptin levels are high people stop eating and take in less fat. The
opposite is true for ghrelin, with higher levels being associated with increased
appetite. Getting adequate sleep promotes an environment conducive to health and
weight management. In another post I will discuss the role of diet in leptin,
leptin sensitivity, and body weight.
Another study
published in the journal Sleep determined that seven hours is a
critical breakpoint in the relationship between sleep and obesity. In a ten-year
follow up study of 9588 subjects, those who slept under seven hours were
significantly heavier and more likely to be obese than those who slept more
than seven hours each night. The conclusion seen from numerous studies points to
a link between too little sleep and body weight. The less a person sleeps,
particularly less than seven hours of sleep, the more likely the
person is to have significantly higher levels of body fat and a
heavier body weight.
The amount of sleep you get each night plays a key role with hormonal levels
related to appetite, fat cell metabolism, and the internal signals you get
for what to eat and how much to eat. The more sleep you get the easier it will
be to maintain a healthier body weight. So for more than just a restful
night make sure you get at least seven hours of sleep each night. | 
