Less Sleep Brings More Belly Fat
September 1st, 2011 by Ingrid Macher
Recently I have come across several articles about the relationship between belly fat and lack of sleep. I couldn’t resist the impulse of doing my own research on the topic since I’m dealing with the same problem at home with my husband. He’s working out, eating a healthy diet, though the proverbial ‘six pack’ has become a mission impossible for him. So, I realized that since his sleep hours have decreased and his work hours increased, both at the office and home, his belly is still there while the rest of his body is showing improvement.
I found the answer, listen to this: a combination of fatigue, insomnia, stress, and irregular hours contribute to weight gain in the stomach area. Have you ever heard about Cortisol A.K.A. “the stress hormone”? Well, let me tell you that it’s a hormone that plays an important role in appetite control among other functions of our body as
- Proper glucose metabolism
- Regulation of blood pressure
- Insulin release for blood sugar maintenance
- Immune function
- Inflammatory response
Some people misinterpret body signal from elevated Cortisol (increase of blood sugar and insulin release) and eat when tired. The combination of increased Cortisol, inactivity, lack of sleep, and eating, increases the deposits of fat around the abdomen area. As a result from stress your levels of Cortisol increase, interfering with falling or remaining asleep. Then, the cycle of hormone output, insulin release, and hunger goes on.
These hectic days when everyone is ‘on the go’, and trying to make it in this economy, stress levels go higher as sleep hours go down. If you were wondering why your belly fat is still there even if you are doing the right things –healthy diet and workout- you might want to pay attention to your stress levels and add in your list more sleep hours as an effective tool to lose weight.
P.S.: Resting and sleeping will not only fight the belly fat, but also will diminish those wrinkles that drive you nuts. No wonder our grandmothers always told us about having “beauty sleep”.
