If You Don't Sleep, You Won't Lose Weight

chivalryder
chivalryder Posts: 4,391 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I heard on this morning about another study that found that if you get less than 5 hours of sleep every/most nights, you are at a much greater risk of developing diabetes and gaining weight. Apparently, you require a decent amount of sleep in order to properly develop/balance your insulin levels.

Here is a rather brainy report on various studies.

http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/29/3/657.long

Discuss.
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Replies

  • Off10h8ed
    Off10h8ed Posts: 282 Member
    I generally get about 3-4 hours sleep each night with the occasional nap here and there, during the week.
    On weekends, I generally get about 8-10 hours sleep. Maybe mine is averaging out. I don't sleep much during the week. I don't have the time!


    BTW... I have been doing this for years and get my sugar levels checked every year and I am at a normal level.
    My thyroid on the other hand... well... I messed that up years ago.

    Edited to add to. :)
  • Off10h8ed
    Off10h8ed Posts: 282 Member
    From what I am understanding from the article... Only 7-8 hours is the correct amount.
    Anything more or less increases your chances for diabetes. That is pretty restrictive. I would think that since everybody is different and out bodies act and react differently that each individual would be different. :/
  • x_JT_x
    x_JT_x Posts: 364
    I haven't read the article but I have found in the past that lack of sleep definitely affects my weight loss. As Robert Ludlum was fond of saying "Sleep is a weapon."
  • chivalryder
    chivalryder Posts: 4,391 Member
    I generally get about 3-4 hours sleep each night with the occasional nap here and there, during the week.
    On weekends, I generally get about 8-10 hours sleep. Maybe mine is averaging out. I don't sleep much during the week. I don't have the time!


    BTW... I have been doing this for years and get my sugar levels checked every year and I am at a normal level.
    My thyroid on the other hand... well... I messed that up years ago.

    Edited to add to. :)

    It's not set in stone that you will get diabetes, simply from not getting enough sleep every night, but I believe the study meant *every* night, so a good, long night on weekends may make up for bad weekday nights. It simply linked lack of sleep with diabetes. What will happen to one person won't necessarily happen to someone else.
  • chivalryder
    chivalryder Posts: 4,391 Member
    From what I am understanding from the article... Only 7-8 hours is the correct amount.
    Anything more or less increases your chances for diabetes. That is pretty restrictive. I would think that since everybody is different and out bodies act and react differently that each individual would be different. :/

    I agree. I function best on 9 hours/night. I usually only get 8 on weekdays, but weekends I often get 9+.
  • Deipneus
    Deipneus Posts: 1,862 Member
    I'm always skeptical of whatever study is in the news at the moment, but it's hard to argue against getting a good night's sleep. From just personal observation, it carries a lot more benefits than just weight control. It helps our ability to think clearly.
  • FemininGuns
    FemininGuns Posts: 605 Member
    In my experience "sleep is a weapon" also!

    When I train, I need GOOD SLEEP to recover. That for me is at least 8hrs. When I did get my 8hrs a night, I would lose fat much faster than I do now (sleeping bouts of 4-6hrs - waking for baby feedings).
  • FeebRyan
    FeebRyan Posts: 738 Member
    nonsense. I barely get 5hrs of sleep each night, all interrupted with toddler ill or baby needing feeding or so on.

    This is normal for many people for many years.

    Generally speaking, evolution knows what its talking about and would not have created a situation that was so harmful for us.
  • DebbieLyn63
    DebbieLyn63 Posts: 2,654 Member
    I had heard that your body produces HGH when you are sleeping, so if you don't get enough sleep, it will produce less HGH and thus your metabolism will slow down and other problems will occur. I have no scientific evidence to back this up, but I could probably google it and find something on it. But am too lazy to do that right now. :wink:
  • chivalryder
    chivalryder Posts: 4,391 Member
    nonsense. I barely get 5hrs of sleep each night, all interrupted with toddler ill or baby needing feeding or so on.

    This is normal for many people for many years.

    Generally speaking, evolution knows what its talking about and would not have created a situation that was so harmful for us.

    Find us 3+ credible sources to back up your argument, and I will consider debating the facts with you.
  • RosscoBoscko
    RosscoBoscko Posts: 632 Member
    Have been struggling with sleep for the last year or more and have lost 32 pounds this year so would like to know what I'd have lost if this has been slowing my weight loss. use a fitbit to track sleep and last nights came out at 47% efficiency which is quite high for me. just under 3 hours actual sleep. Same or less most days weekends included. Almost used to it now. would love more / better sleep but doesnt happen.
  • Jamie_Lauren
    Jamie_Lauren Posts: 211 Member
    I can vouch for this!

    I used to be a terrible insomniac. I'm the kind of person who can't turn my brain off when I go to sleep, and I can be wide awake as soon as my head hits the pillow. I was also very overweight, and the insomnia didn't help that as I constantly craved sugar and high calorie foods because I was tired!

    Since I changed my diet and started exercising regularly, my insomnia has pretty much disappeared :drinker:

    Sleep has become so important to my routine since I started losing weight, and I have found that when I have "bad spells" it definitely affects my progress.
  • Andrea3030
    Andrea3030 Posts: 161
    "nonsense. I barely get 5hrs of sleep each night, all interrupted with toddler ill or baby needing feeding or so on. "



    This is for a very short period over the course of a lifetime. My kids are 4 and 2 and I'm already back to 7-9 hours uninterrupted sleep per night.

    I believe adequate sleep is just as important as a healthy diet amd exercise.
  • FeebRyan
    FeebRyan Posts: 738 Member

    Find us 3+ credible sources to back up your argument, and I will consider debating the facts with you.

    Tempting, but, I have two young children and far far better things to do.

    We are not having a science lesson, folk can have an opinion without having to back things up and certainly without having to prove such things to the likes of you.
  • escloflowneCHANGED
    escloflowneCHANGED Posts: 3,038 Member
    Only a sith deals in absolutes
  • ZombieChaser
    ZombieChaser Posts: 1,555 Member
    Only a sith deal in absolutes

    /endthread
  • chivalryder
    chivalryder Posts: 4,391 Member

    Find us 3+ credible sources to back up your argument, and I will consider debating the facts with you.

    Tempting, but, I have two young children and far far better things to do.

    We are not having a science lesson, folk can have an opinion without having to back things up and certainly without having to prove such things to the likes of you.

    "There are two kinds of fools: those who can't change their opinions and those who won't."

    Josh Billings

    I'm not asking you to argue it with me, but to try to convince people that 20+ studies are completely false simply because you have some children is like bringing a knife to a gun fight. I don't care what your opinion is, but if you want to make an argument in a public forum, bring a bit more than just what you believe in. Bring some factual evidence.
  • FeebRyan
    FeebRyan Posts: 738 Member

    Find us 3+ credible sources to back up your argument, and I will consider debating the facts with you.

    Tempting, but, I have two young children and far far better things to do.

    We are not having a science lesson, folk can have an opinion without having to back things up and certainly without having to prove such things to the likes of you.

    "There are two kinds of fools: those who can't change their opinions and those who won't."

    Josh Billings

    I'm not asking you to argue it with me, but to try to convince people that 20+ studies are completely false simply because you have some children is like bringing a knife to a gun fight. I don't care what your opinion is, but if you want to make an argument in a public forum, bring a bit more than just what you believe in. Bring some factual evidence.

    I'm not trying to convince anyone else of anything. You have your opinion, I have mine. You not sharing my opinion is really not my concern, unsure why me not sharing your opinion is of such concern to you really.

    I couldnt give a toss whether you get 8 minutes or 8 hours sleep a night, fact is, babies and young children wake frequently in the night and it is natural for humans to have babies and young children for extended periods of adult hood, therefore according to the great big study known as EVOLUTION I deem these 'new facts' to be untrue.
  • chivalryder
    chivalryder Posts: 4,391 Member
    Considering the report was based on men, and not women, I don't see how your point is relative. Men don't wake up in the middle of the night to deal with children. We usually sleep right through it.
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,147 Member
    I didn't read everything because scientific papers make my brain bleed. What I did read, and I probably missed something, is the study was done in an open fashion rather than a closed lab study; the chosen men were only contacted 3 times between 1987-2004 for info and blood samples. Also, the study didn't eliminate other factors that could contribute to diabetes development. For me, not having a "clean" study group (such as no health probs, no drinking, no smoking, no familial predisposition to diabetes, no eating disorders) and not keeping the group in a controlled environment casts plenty of doubt on the absolute of no sleep = diabetes/weight gain.

    Uninterrupted sleep is good for health, yes, but there are too many variables that either weren't removed or accounted for to make such an absolute statement.
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member

    Find us 3+ credible sources to back up your argument, and I will consider debating the facts with you.

    Tempting, but, I have two young children and far far better things to do.

    We are not having a science lesson, folk can have an opinion without having to back things up and certainly without having to prove such things to the likes of you.

    "There are two kinds of fools: those who can't change their opinions and those who won't."

    Josh Billings

    I'm not asking you to argue it with me, but to try to convince people that 20+ studies are completely false simply because you have some children is like bringing a knife to a gun fight. I don't care what your opinion is, but if you want to make an argument in a public forum, bring a bit more than just what you believe in. Bring some factual evidence.

    You have not brought factual evidence either,
    MMAS is an observational cohort study of health in a population-based random sample of men

    piratesarecool4.gif
  • MED2012COLORADO
    MED2012COLORADO Posts: 238
    Well then im screwed. :angry: ..........i might as well give up now. :ohwell:
  • gjulie
    gjulie Posts: 391
    when I can I will sleep from about 10pm until 7 in the morning my husband on the other hand is a very poor sleeper Im always up early on an aversage night I fall asleep about 10 and Im up at 5.15 for to get to the gym its driving him mad because he says I wake him up,not the best situation, I feel if he quit smoking for good and started a little exercise he might sleep better but that will never happen,my son suggested this jokongly yesteray and he got quite mad!
  • jcpmoore
    jcpmoore Posts: 796 Member
    Considering the report was based on men, and not women, I don't see how your point is relative. Men don't wake up in the middle of the night to deal with children. We usually sleep right through it.

    Let it go. Feeb doesn't want to argue-just shoot down anything that isn't in their experience.

    There have been numerous studies over the years that show these results-less sleep equals *higher risk* of weight gain and diabetes. And that phrase is the key- *higher risk*. The study never said that every person who gets less sleep will get diabetes. Higher risk just means it's more likely.

    If you want to talk personal experience as empirical evidence, though, I can offer it. When I had young children, and was nursing them, I got less sleep and gained weight. When I had no children and got less sleep, I gained weight. When I had two young children but they slept through the night and I got 7 hours of sleep every night-I lost weight. Now I'm back to getting less sleep because of my own choices and I'm gaining weight and on the borderline for prediabetes.

    Later folks, I think I'll go get some sleep.
  • GuybrushThreepw00d
    GuybrushThreepw00d Posts: 784 Member
    MMAS is an observational cohort study of health in a population-based random sample of men

    piratesarecool4.gif

    I love correlation - causation topics!!

    correlation.png
  • mq68
    mq68 Posts: 118 Member
    Only a sith deals in absolutes


    LOL! thank you!

    i can sleep anywhere but only get 3 to 5 hours total... I have lost 40lbs since May with this same sleep schedule but would love to sleep more. it just isn't the time. Maybe I will sleep when I am dead.
  • AllTehBeers
    AllTehBeers Posts: 5,030 Member
    I would have to think it has more to do with being awake 20 hours a day and having more time to do mindless eating. Correlation does not equal causation.
  • chivalryder
    chivalryder Posts: 4,391 Member

    Find us 3+ credible sources to back up your argument, and I will consider debating the facts with you.

    Tempting, but, I have two young children and far far better things to do.

    We are not having a science lesson, folk can have an opinion without having to back things up and certainly without having to prove such things to the likes of you.

    "There are two kinds of fools: those who can't change their opinions and those who won't."

    Josh Billings

    I'm not asking you to argue it with me, but to try to convince people that 20+ studies are completely false simply because you have some children is like bringing a knife to a gun fight. I don't care what your opinion is, but if you want to make an argument in a public forum, bring a bit more than just what you believe in. Bring some factual evidence.

    You have not brought factual evidence either,
    MMAS is an observational cohort study of health in a population-based random sample of men

    piratesarecool4.gif

    We could always go through the 29 references used in that report to see any other details, if you wish.
  • sgthaggard
    sgthaggard Posts: 581 Member
    Using evolution as an argument against sleep is specious. Most children who are older than 6 months are capable of sleeping through the night. Whether they do or not has a lot to do with parenting style - something that has changed significantly in the last 50 years or so. Not a long enough time to have any effect on our evolution.

    On the flip side, I know that sleep deprivation would have an inverse effect on the number of children I would choose to have, thus decreasing the chances of my genetic material being passed on.
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,147 Member

    Find us 3+ credible sources to back up your argument, and I will consider debating the facts with you.

    Tempting, but, I have two young children and far far better things to do.

    We are not having a science lesson, folk can have an opinion without having to back things up and certainly without having to prove such things to the likes of you.

    "There are two kinds of fools: those who can't change their opinions and those who won't."

    Josh Billings

    I'm not asking you to argue it with me, but to try to convince people that 20+ studies are completely false simply because you have some children is like bringing a knife to a gun fight. I don't care what your opinion is, but if you want to make an argument in a public forum, bring a bit more than just what you believe in. Bring some factual evidence.

    You have not brought factual evidence either,
    MMAS is an observational cohort study of health in a population-based random sample of men

    piratesarecool4.gif

    We could always go through the 29 references used in that report to see any other details, if you wish.
    Married-with-Children-popcorn.gif

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