Sleep deprivation is connected to gaining weight, according to recent study
The next time you think about skipping sleep for other activities, think again! Studies have shown that people who continuously lack sleep have bigger concerns than crankiness and daytime fatigue. Long-term sleep deprivation can wreak serious havoc on a cellular level.
Our fat cells can begin to malfunction, according to new studies. Lack of sleep for long periods of time can make you fat because it confuses the balance between hunger hormones and fullness hormones, thus making you hungry when you really aren’t or never truly full and therefore can lead to weight gain.
According to USA Today, Matthew Brady, one of the study’s authors and vice chair of the committee on Molecular Metabolism and Nutrition at the University of Chicago, says,”Our fat cells need sleep to function properly. If you’re sleep deprived, your brain may feel groggy, and it turns out that your fat cells also need sleep or they are metabolically groggy.”
At a cellular level, fat cells begin to become sensitive due to lack of reception with the brain from lack of sleep. As a result, they begin to release about 30 percent less insulin, causing fat cells to grow and retain fat.
Dr. Nathaniel F. Watson, co-director of the University of Washington Medicine Sleep Center, in Seattle, is reported by CNN as saying, “[Sleep] as important to your health as a healthy diet and exercise. Until somebody invents a procedure or a pill that’s going to approximate all aspects of sleep, really what you’re left with is what is a pretty simple treatment… Just turn off the computer and go to bed earlier.”
