Insomnia and fear of weight gain

Switch to dark chocolate and only eat small amount of it each day. I found that having a small amount of dark chocolate is better for you and quenches the craving more that the others.

Racheldasilva174 wrote: »

So I've been struggling with insomnia and read that it causes weight gain which makes me have trouble sleeping even more. I have a bridesmaids dress to fit into in two months and here I am today eating 250 cal of Halloween chocolate. I hope I can maintain my weight and not gain. Any ideas on how not to binge on chocolate

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/34445987/#Comment_34445987

QUOTE from @pondee629 :

When you go to a party with an open bar, do you always get falling down drunk?

When you see a very attractive member of the opposite gender, do you always make inappropriate moves on that person?

When someone disagrees with you, do you violently oppose them, even if you want to?

Do you get up and go to work every day even though you really don't like your job?

When an office superior says something stupid, do you immediately and loudly correct that person?

OK. Will power ain't the problem. We can, and do, control many, many impulses. If you want to lose weight, you must control your caloric intake. ONLY EAT THE CANDY THAT YOU WILL FIT INTO YOUR CALORIC BUDGET!

Act like a responsible adult, you do on the rest of lifes decisions. This is one you have made.

Insomnia sucks.....really sucks (says she who has just come off another 2 consecutive nights with less than 3 hours sleep in total).

Firstly I offer sympathy and empathy.

Some studies have show insomnia can mess with your cortisol levels and effect grehlin and leptin as well which basically means you feel hungrier and due to feeling extra tired. Cortisol add to the feelings of stress and may lead to increased water retention and some people try offsetting their hunger and tiredness with high calorie 'quick hit' sugary foods. This I think is where the concept of sleep deprivation leading to weight gain gets its legs.....but it doesn't have to end up that way for you.

You sound so stressed over the weight gain and really the biggest problem is Why are you not sleeping?....so for the moment eat well in moderation....try to limit sugary fixes if that is a problem for you and just deal with the insomnia.

You really need to try to figure out what is at the root of your insomnia. Questions that you to ask yourself are things like......Is this a recent thing? Have you been unwell? Life changes? Extra stress? New job? Just a @nxd10 has said maybe counselling could help.

Some tips from a long term sufferer here:

Practice good sleep hygiene:

Have a nightly routine and stick with it. Bed before 10 pm if you can (apparently by 10 pm we enter another wakey wakey cycle) so if you can get your head down prior to this all well and good.
Maybe turn off all electronic devices 1/2 - 1 hour prior to bed too.
If you like a warm drink....try milk or maybe a soothing herbal tea.
Perhaps try a soothing warm (not hot) bath/shower prior to bed.
Try meditation. Guided can be really useful if you are starting out.
Limit the number of caffeine drinks you have during the day - perhaps no more than 4 coffees/teas and stop your last caffeine drink around the 3 pm mark.

Lastly but most importantly - TRY NOT to stress about this...Hopefully for you this is transient and most people suffer with insomnia at some stage/s of their lives. Remember REST is ALMOST as good as sleep. Lying in bed, relaxing, letting your thoughts wander - (if intrusive thoughts are an issue or loud outside noise try listening to white noise or sea waves, rain sounds, whatever) purposeful quiet resting has been shown to REALLY help and is almost as good as a sleep.....

The last thing is maybe go see your GP and get checked out. Talk to them about the problems you are having and they may have some short term solutions/ideas for you that I haven't thought of. Beware of getting into the habit of taking sleeping pills.....it is self limiting and can just make things worse. Trust me on this. Melatonin is not a bad idea....prepare for some wacky dreams if you do.....Also check your Vitamin D levels too.....low levels can affect your sleep quality.

I wish you all the best.

This content has been removed.

The production of the hormones leptin and ghrelin is impacted by lack of sleep.

Put simply ghrelin encourages appetite while leptin suppresses appetite and generally kicks in after we have eaten to satisfaction.

Lack of sleep can decrease leptin production but increase ghrelin production.