Sleep Deprivation

Equus5374
Equus5374 Posts: 462 Member
edited November 29 in Health and Weight Loss
What role, if any, do you feel that sleep deprivation plays in maintaining a healthy eating style? I'm only curious because as a sleep deprived individual (who just got off of a crazy night rotation for good -- YAY!) I have seen it play a role in just about every area of my life, especially in cognitive function. If anyone knows of any good studies concerning sleep deprivation, feel free to share them.

I feel as though I have a sort of "road to recovery" ahead of me because getting back on a regular schedule is proving harder than I thought. I'm extremely tired most of the time and my sleep is irregular, despite trying to have the same bedtime each night. I think we take sleep's role in overall health for granted in general!

Replies

  • CrazyMermaid1
    CrazyMermaid1 Posts: 356 Member
    Melatonin and Benadryl might help. Sleep deprivation makes me hungry
  • emmycantbemeeko
    emmycantbemeeko Posts: 303 Member
    Anecdotally, I found it much more challenging to eat healthily *and* found that even when eating at a deficit and exercising for many days in a row, would never register losses while still on a night schedule. It took at least one 24 hour cycle of diurnal wake/sleep before I would drop water weight and register a significant change on the scale.

    I feel like a night owl- I didn't experience a lot of conscious difficulty with night shift or alertness the way many people do. But I was always hungrier and cycling back and forth to days and nights was brutal. I often got sick more often on nights.

    I know the Nurses' Health Study, which is a long, large-scale track of a variety of health measures, found an increase in all-cause mortality for female nurses working rotating night shifts for 5 or more years.
  • VintageFeline
    VintageFeline Posts: 6,771 Member
    I'm actually beginning to think my insomnia going through a particularly bad patch is impacting the scales for me at the moment. My sleep schedule has turned to total custard the last few weeks and it is incredibly hard to keep to a normal life schedule which I think has as much of an impact as the sleep deprivation itself. I'm still doing okay but it is hard running on fumes. Impaired cognitive function is a known side effect and something I deal with regularly as a nice double whammy with my other diagnoses. Sleep is so so important to functioning.
  • Equus5374
    Equus5374 Posts: 462 Member
    emmycantbemeeko wrote: »
    Anecdotally, I found it much more challenging to eat healthily *and* found that even when eating at a deficit and exercising for many days in a row, would never register losses while still on a night schedule. It took at least one 24 hour cycle of diurnal wake/sleep before I would drop water weight and register a significant change on the scale.

    I feel like a night owl- I didn't experience a lot of conscious difficulty with night shift or alertness the way many people do. But I was always hungrier and cycling back and forth to days and nights was brutal. I often got sick more often on nights.

    I know the Nurses' Health Study, which is a long, large-scale track of a variety of health measures, found an increase in all-cause mortality for female nurses working rotating night shifts for 5 or more years.

    Thank you, this is very helpful. That last sentence made me cringe; I've been working rotating nights for 20 years. Am I doomed or what?! :neutral:
  • Panda_brat
    Panda_brat Posts: 291 Member
    Having sleep apnea, I have found that once I got my CPAP machine, and was getting better quality sleep, I wasn't quite as hungry.
  • Asher_Ethan
    Asher_Ethan Posts: 2,430 Member
    I find, without sleep, my body is constantly looking for a source of energy which makes me uncontrollably hungry.
  • BettyBoles
    BettyBoles Posts: 68 Member
    Daily exercise and healthy diet can help you get better quality sleep at night. Stop caffeine and smoking.
  • jennifer_417
    jennifer_417 Posts: 12,344 Member
    I tend to have more trouble regulating my food intake when I'm tired. My theory is that my body is looking for an energy source, but it could just be that I don't have the reserve energy to resist my impulses. I wish I had more answers for you, but at least I can commiserate.
  • timeforwork
    timeforwork Posts: 114 Member
    I also work nights and then have the kids during the day so only get about 24 hours proper in bed sleep a week and a couple of cat naps :( I'm always hungry unless I eat 6 meals(3 for each 12hr cycle) so finding it hard to lose any more weight, good news is it means I'm moving around a lot so my activity is high! any help ( other than get a day job!) would be of interest to me aswell .
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