Not enough (or too many) ZZZs
burbunya
Posts: 23 Member
Are you short-changing yourself on sleep? At least one third of Americans don’t get enough sleep and up to 70 million people in the United States suffer from some kind of sleep disorder. A lack of sleep does more than just make you feel tired. It’s linked to some very real health problems, including depression, anxiety, high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity. It also makes it harder to manage diabetes. So you might think twice about burning the midnight oil. In one study, people who got fewer than four hours of sleep at night were 73% more likely to gain excess weight. And people who get six hours of sleep each night? They were 23% more likely to become obese.
There are two possible explanations for why a lack of sleep may pack on the pounds: first, not getting enough sleep affects the hormones leptin and ghrelin, which regulate appetite and satiety. When these hormones are disrupted by lack of sleep, people tend to eat more and also not feel as full when they do eat. Also, research shows that people who have sleep apnea, a condition where a person experiences pauses in their breathing while sleeping, are more likely to be overweight. The more severe the apnea, the higher the risk of obesity.
Aiming for about 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night should do the trick. But don’t sleep much longer than that if you’re male: studies show that men who sleep longer than 9 hours a night are 1.42 times more likely to be overweight than men who sleep 7 to 8 hours a night.
There are two possible explanations for why a lack of sleep may pack on the pounds: first, not getting enough sleep affects the hormones leptin and ghrelin, which regulate appetite and satiety. When these hormones are disrupted by lack of sleep, people tend to eat more and also not feel as full when they do eat. Also, research shows that people who have sleep apnea, a condition where a person experiences pauses in their breathing while sleeping, are more likely to be overweight. The more severe the apnea, the higher the risk of obesity.
Aiming for about 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night should do the trick. But don’t sleep much longer than that if you’re male: studies show that men who sleep longer than 9 hours a night are 1.42 times more likely to be overweight than men who sleep 7 to 8 hours a night.
0