Could our weight be effected by sleep deprivation side effects? Maybe it could, even though it sounds more like a line from a late night infomercial than fact. When I first heard that one of the sleep deprivation side effects is weight gain, I said “no way.” But then I continued to do research on the effects of not getting enough sleep and the subject of weight gain or loss kept popping up in all kinds of different research studies.
I started to take a closer look at sleep deprivation side effects.
One set of numbers that struck me as odd was that it is estimated that around 30% of American adults have inadequate amounts of sleep and that nearly one-third of American adults are obese. To me it is very interesting that these two groups of people are so similar in their percentages. I am not claiming that a lack of sleep directly causes weight gain, but it is very interesting that their are many overweight people with sleep problems. One could reasonably flip that around and suggest that sleep deprivation side effects cause weight gain. I have tried to find studies that have somehow examined a direct correlation between sleeping and obesity with no avail. A few of the reports I have read have indicated that many of the obese individuals in their study suffered from sleeping disorders, more than likely due to their size instead of their size being caused by their lack of sleep. It only makes sense that an obese person would have more difficulty sleeping because the extra fat could restrict blood flow and breathing, just to name a few things. In addition, all that extra body mass is not a cushion and would make getting comfortable more difficult than an average size person.
In studies on rats, long-term sleep deprivation side effects increase food intake. Hormonal imbalances were also noted on these rats that lead to weight gain and eventually death. This has led to a theory that sleep deprivation could be interfering with hormones in humans that regulate appetite and glucose metabolism. One study showed that reducing an individual’s sleep duration to four hours for two consecutive nights showed decreased circulating leptin levels and increased ghrelin levels, as well as self-reported hunger as common sleep deprivation side effects. Similar endocrine alterations have been shown to occur even after a single night of sleep restriction. These types of results provide further evidence that sleep loss is currently thought to disturb endocrine regulation of energy homeostasis leading to weight gain and obesity.
Without going crazy and expecting that sleeping all the time will make us skinny, it is reasonable to believe that by getting sufficient sleep our bodies will balance the hormones that regulate our appetite and glucose metabolism to a point that we won’t have to fight our natural urges to eat more because we are tired. The possible sleep deprivation side effects of weight gain could be minimized with adequate sleep. Of course, this would not replace other aspects of a healthy lifestyle such as a diet and exercise. Besides, didn’t your mom tell you never to eat in bed which would mean that you won’t be consuming calories while sleeping? With all this great information, it looks like getting the proper amount of sleep will not only avoid sleep deprivation side effects, but could possibly help you regulate your weight.
