Sleep Deprivation Makes You Fat

As I sit on a flight from Dubai to London … it’s 3:30 AM (in whatever time zone I’m currently in).  And while I should be tired, my sleep is so far off from normal, I’m wide awake and probably disturbing the other passengers with my computer.  Sorry.

But how does this sleep deprivation affect me on a physiological level?  I have been traveling for the last couple weeks — Kara and I spoke in Iceland last week and then I headed to Indonesia, which is 11 hours ahead of our normal EST.  As an aside, excited for Kara who was invited as the first woman speaker from the US to speak at the Keilir Academy in Iceland.

I digress.

Now on my way back, I just keep resetting my watch at every stop … as I come back to the US.  When I land in London, I’ll once again set my watch as we’re landing at 7 AM … and then taking off again at 10 AM.  I’ll certainly not know where I am when I finally get home.

So why does all this matter?  We’ve talked before about the importance of sleep when trying to lose weight.  Very simply, sleep more, weigh less … with most research suggesting the 8 hour mark being ideal for losing and maintaining your body weight.

But just when you think the "chapter" in this story is closed, an interesting study comes out …

… showing that even ACUTE sleep deprivation can affect body weight!  I’m in trouble!

Check this out:

The study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition compared 2 levels of sleep — 4 hours vs. 8 hours — and measured food intake the following day.

They learned after just a single night of getting just 4 hours of sleep (sleep deprivation) the subjects at 22% (an average of 559 calories) more the following day compared to the group who got just 8 hours of sleep!

While this short term study was small, it definitely opens the door for more research on this topic to see if continued sleep deprivation (defined as 4 hours in this study) and subsequent overeating could be a major cause of obesity.

Bottom Line:

Burning the candle at both ends and thinking just "1 night of lack of sleep won’t hurt me."  Sleep is an easy part of the equation to control — even aiming for just 1 more hour each night will help.  Every little bit of additional sleep helps!

Hoping I can get back on track quickly myself…

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