Sleep Deprivation And How It Is Related To Weight Loss?

Besides having a proper and balanced diet, one should also get proper rest and adequate sleep to enjoy a fit and healthy life. Sleep is an important part of your daily activities that will allow you to rest your entire body and the mind to stay calm. Thus, sleep is essential for proper brain functioning and for maintaining the healthy functioning of the entire body. Without enough rest and sleep, your body will feel tired and exhausted and this physical exhaustion resulting from the reduced amount of sleep will not allow your brain to function properly.

What Is All About Sleep Deprivation?

When a person suffers from a lack of adequate sleep every day for quite a long time, then it is termed sleep deprivation. When a person has sleep deprivation, then he or she is more prone to suffer from different types of physical ailments, one of them being problems related to body weight. It is true that when a person gets an adequate amount of sound sleep, then the food he or she has before going to sleep, gets digested during the hours of sleep, and as a result, the person is bound to experience proper absorption, metabolism, and thus, proper digestion too. This process not only helps in healthy body weight management but also builds a strong immune system in the body that will help to prevent the occurrence of any type of disease in the body. Apart from disrupting the normal activities of the day, hampered sleep can also lead to an increase in your appetite and can thus disrupt your entire food habit. When your sleep gets disrupted, you are more likely to get into your kitchen or refrigerator to find any food that you can have at night, and this will inevitably increase your craving thus your overall calorie consumption will gradually speed up which will lead you to gain unhealthy body weight. If this goes on for a longer period, you might end up having disorders, including obesity and other chronic illnesses. When a person experiences a lack of enough sleep in a day for quite some time, then they might be going through certain phases that can drain their energy, create physiological disorders, and will affect their cognitive skills. Some of those phases look like the following:

• Find it uncomfortable to sleep in a bed or elsewhere
• Move from one side of the bed to the other and it becomes hard for them to find a proper position that might be comfortable for them and can make them fall asleep
• Even if they can manage to sleep, it gets disrupted quite frequently
• They wake up and get out of bed in the middle of the night
• They might have insomnia, sleep apnea, or some other difficulties that do not allow them to fall asleep
• They do not find the ambiance to be capable of making them fall asleep

How Much Sleep Is Required For You?

Though the amount of sleep and sleep timing differs from one person to the other, on average an adult individual should have at least 7 hours of sleep. Based on different ages the proper sleep timing has been listed below in the chart. This will help you to know how much sleep you should have each day to stay healthy and physically fit:

Age Hours of sleep

4–12 months 12–16, including naps

1–2 years 11–14, including naps

3–5 years 10–13, including naps

6–12 years 9–12

13–18 years 8–10

18–60 years 7 or more

Symptoms Related To Lack Of Sleep:

When a person is undergoing sleep deprivation and has a craving tendency at night, then there will be some other visible symptoms too that will give the hint that the person is experiencing other problems also. According to studies and research works, it has been found that certain physical and psychological changes will occur in a person who is undergoing sleep deprivation. Some such signs and symptoms can be listed here as follows:

• excessive tiredness and feeling of exhaustion
• feelings of irritation and wretchedness
• lack of cognitive skills
• tendencies of forgetting things easily
• the gradual reduction in concentration and lack of problem-solving skills
• lowering in feelings of libido
• sudden and unexplained mood swings.

Impact Of Sleep Deprivation On Their Body Weight:

Sleep deprivation is something that is quite unhealthy for the overall functioning of your body and can impact severely your physical and mental health. In many cases, it is found that due to lack of sleep, a person might catch various types of infections easily because of a very weak immune system. Lack of enough sleep can even hamper your cardiac and respiratory health, according to studies. Proper sleep helps to keep your blood pressure, proper conduction of oxygen through blood vessels, and other functions of the heart and the lungs under control, which might get affected due to lack of enough sleep. Apart from these, brain activities, such as focusing, paying proper attention, and problem-solving might get affected and these might lead to issues like loss of memory and reduction in the development of cognitive skills.

But the most harmful effect of sleep deprivation is your body weight. With a gradual reduction in sleep timing, the proper synthesis of hormones gets disrupted. This change in hormonal secretion might affect your body weight by increasing your feelings of hunger and cravings. An increase in cravings at the late hours of the night is quite unhealthy because it causes an increase in fat deposition in the body, which is accompanied by calorie surplus, and thus the body weight increases. In fact, due to changes in hormonal secretions during sleep deprivation, one might suffer from the abnormal synthesis of insulin and glucagon- the hormones that are secreted from the pancreas glands. When the synthesis of these two hormones gets disturbed, the person might have the risk of developing diseases like type 2 diabetes or diabetes mellitus.

Long Term Effects Of Sleep Deprivation And Related Complications In Your Body:

Recent studies are suggesting that if a person is undergoing conditions like sleep deprivation, then there are chances that he or she might experience other forms of health complications too. Some of those life-long complications can be listed here as follows:

• hypertension or increase in blood pressure levels
• the abnormal gain in body weight that leads to obesity
• risks of developing diseases like type 2 diabetes or diabetes mellitus
• chances of cardiac damage leading to risks of getting heart strokes, heart attack, heart failure, cardiac arrest, and many other cardiovascular disorders
• sleep apnea
• risks of developing mental health disorders such as clinical depression, panic attacks, anxiety, and many others
• chances of psychosis

Sleep Deprivation And Sleep: How Are These Two Connected?

As we have already discussed before, if a person develops sleep deprivation, then there are immense chances of gaining unhealthy body weight. As per research and studies, almost 35% of people gain excessive body weight and sleep less than 7 hours each day, that is, those who are sleep deprived. Another study, that was conducted in 2013 says that those who are usually sleep deprived and suffer from disorders like insomnia or any other related sleep-disturbance syndromes are likely to become obese and have greater risks of developing insulin-related diseases like type 2 diabetes. Others might develop conditions like mental health disorders, chances of cardiac disorders, and other chronic diseases. For instance, according to a study and research conducted on people who slept for only 5 hours each night for 5 nights a week in 2013, were found to have gained almost 1.8 pounds of body weight. One might also start developing hallucinating and mental health diseases like schizophrenia if he or she does not get enough sleep every day.

How To Get Better Sleep Each Night?

It is important to have uninterrupted and sound sleep for at least 7 hours or more every night. There are certain ways to get such a peaceful sleep every night. Here are some techniques:

• switch off your cell phones, laptops, or other electronic gadgets before going to sleep
• reduce the intake of chocolates, coffee, or any beverage that contains caffeine before going to bed
• you might start to meditate and start practicing relaxation techniques to get better sleep at night
• have a light and healthy diet before going to bed to avoid improper digestion
• see an expert to consult and know how to sleep better.