If you can’t sleep, you’ll get fat! Obesity hormones

I believe everyone has heard that lack of sleep can cause obesity. Recently, there has been more and more research on the relationship between sleep and weight gain. First, after investigating the relationship between the nurses' sleep time and weight gain, it was found that the group with the shortest sleep time of 5 hours was heavier than the group with at least 6 hours of sleep, and their weight increased rapidly with age. For those who gain weight as they age, it would be best to re-examine the quality and quantity of their sleep.

Insomnia can affect the hormones in the body, causing increased appetite and eating more. (Photo provided by / Beautiful Ninja)

Causes of obesity

So, why does lack of sleep make you fat? Smart Sleep, which advocates quality sleep, believes that lack of sleep leading to excessive calorie intake and low calorie consumption function are the two main factors causing obesity. Human appetite is controlled by two hormones: obesin (an appetite-suppressing hormone) and ghrelin (an appetite-stimulating hormone).

After further investigating the relationship between the secretion of these two hormones and sleep duration, it was found that compared with sleeping only 4 hours for 2 consecutive days and sleeping for 10 hours for 2 consecutive days, the former had less secretion of the appetite-suppressing hormone ghrelin and more secretion of the appetite-stimulating hormone ghrelin. Lack of sleep can reduce the secretion of appetite-suppressing hormones and increase the secretion of appetite-stimulating hormones. If you feel hungry, you will naturally increase your calorie intake.

(Photo provided by / Beautiful Ninja)

*Not getting enough sleep can be life-threatening!? *

A survey of 12 men aged 18 to 29 on their sleep duration and calorie intake habits found that men who slept for 8 hours consumed an average of 2,500 calories, while men who slept only 4 hours consumed an average of 3,000 calories. It was also found that people who only slept for 4 hours had a higher fat intake. And if you don't get enough sleep, you'll still tend to gain weight even if you're careful about the amount of exercise and calories you consume.

This stems from the concept of "sense of crisis in life", which means the relationship between the activation of the body's primitive mechanisms. The body will interpret lack of sleep as life being exposed to danger, and crisis = starvation. In order to avoid starvation, the body begins to store fat, which leads to weight gain. Many people may have had the experience that “it’s easy to overeat when you don’t get enough sleep, but it’s less likely to gain weight when you sleep well”! It’s almost fall! At this season, there should be no problem of not sleeping well in the summer. Perhaps it is the best time to lose weight!

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