The lack of a good night’s sleep can lead to weight gain, an increase in the desire to eat and a decrease in the feeling of satiety. According to an alert from the Sleep Institute, on the occasion of World Obesity Day, celebrated today (4), the negative impacts on the body resulting from lack of sleep occur in people of all ages, mainly due to metabolic deregulation.
“It has been proven in recent years, more and more, both in children and adolescents and in adults, that little sleep has its consequences. And one of them is weight gain”, highlights the specialist in Sleep Medicine and researcher at the Instituto do Sono, Érika Treptow.
“One of the reasons [para o ganho de peso] is that we deregulate the body. Some substances begin to be produced in a way that is not normal. For example, there is a substance called ghrelin, which is associated with the urge to eat, and it greatly increases [com a falta de sono]. Just one night of little sleep is enough to increase this substance,” she says.
In addition to the increase in ghrelin, lack of sleep can reduce the production of leptin, which is the hormone associated with satiety, says the researcher. Study published in 2022 in the scientific journal JAMA Internal Medicineshowed that an increase of 90 minutes of sleep per night was able to reduce the daily caloric intake by 270 Kcal, which, in the long term, can result in significant weight loss.
According to the researcher, insufficient sleep also shortens the fasting that occurs when the body is asleep. “Those who end up sleeping less have more time, more opportunities, more hours in which they can eat. Sleeping less is also very tired, so the person has greater difficulty in exercising, for example”.
But it’s not just the lack of sleep that ends up generating weight gain. The opposite can also occur. According to Treptow, excess fat can disrupt sleep. “When we gain a lot of weight, especially depending on where that weight accumulates, there is a tendency to snoring, sleep apnea and poorer quality sleep”.
To improve sleep, the specialist recommends, mainly, the regularity of bedtimes. “Our organism works according to a rhythm and this rhythm is mainly dictated by our sleeping and waking times, our meal times and the light we receive during the day”.
“All the cells of the organism work according to this rhythm. From the moment I sleep at a different time each day, this departure from the rhythm causes a greater chance of illness”, he emphasizes.
Érika Treptow advises people not to eat, drink alcoholic beverages or stimulants at a time close to bedtime. It is recommended to have a light meal at night. “People shouldn’t take their problems to bed either. A tip we give is to keep a worry diary, where the person writes down everything they are worried about, it’s like emptying their head and being able to go to bed to sleep”.
According to the researcher, another important tip is to get out of bed, in case the person wakes up in the middle of the night and can no longer sleep. “Have a glass of water, go to the bathroom and then you go back to sleep. Because frying in bed, as some people say, also reduces the chance of getting good quality sleep.”
A suitable environment is also recommended. The room must have low light, little noise, a good temperature. “That, now in the summer, we see how it harms to fall asleep”.
