Snooze to Lose

Turn off your TV, shut your mystery novel and climb into your cozy bed a little earlier tonight…and tomorrow night, too. A growing stack of research suggests that getting just 20 extra minutes of quality sleep each night could help you lose more weight--with less effort.

When doctors at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk compared the sleep habits and body mass index (a measurement of healthy weight based on a person’s height) of 1,001 women and men, they got a wake-up call:

Overweight people, it turned out, were getting about 16 minutes less sleep per night than people at a lower, healthier weight. The connection? Even a small sleep deficit seems to raise levels of stress hormones and at the same time, disrupt the balance of important appetite/satisfaction hormones called leptin and ghrelin.

How they work:

Ghrelin: The hunger hormone
Where it’s made: In your gastrointestinal tract.
Its job: To trigger hunger when your body is low on fuel.
How a sleep deficit disrupts it: Ghrelin levels rise. You feel hungrier, sooner.

Leptin: The satisfaction hormone
Where it’s made: In your fat cells
It’s job: To tell your brain that you’re full after a meal.
How a sleep deficit disrupts it: Leptin levels drop. You feel less satisfied after eating.

Cortisol: The Emergency! Emergency! Hormone
Where it’s made: In your adrenal glands
Its job: To prepare your body to deal with a crisis, by raising blood pressure, heart rate and blood sugar, and slowing down digestion
How a sleep deficit disrupts it: Cortisol levels rise, making you feel hungry and craving sweet, high-calorie foods even if you’re full. Cortisol can also make your body store more fat at your waistline.

Too Little Sleep, Too Many Cupcakes
When University of Chicago researchers measured hormone levels in 12 healthy guys who had gone without sleep for 48 hours, they found that leptin (the satisfaction hormone) dropped while ghrelin (the appetite-stimulating hormone) went up. The guys went on a feeding frenzy, too--eating 33-45% more high-carb, high-calorie foods like crackers and sweets than they had when well-rested. (Real world translation: No wonder you reach for the glazed doughnut after a short night’s sleep!)

This may have been a good thing for a busy cave woman trying to flee marauding tigers after a bad night night’s sleep in a leaky cave (she’d grab extra berries for body fuel) but in modern life, it only fuels weight gain. And over time, even a small sleep deficit can lead to a big weight gain.

When Columbia University researchers checked the health records of 6,115 women and men, they found that compared to people getting 7-9 hours of shuteye, light sleepers had these risks for extra pounds:

Hours of Sleep Per Night                  Extra Risk for Being Overweight

2-4 hours                                                                    73%

5 hours                                                                        50%

6 hours                                                                         23%

"Sleep loss disrupts a complex and interwoven series of metabolic and hormonal processes and may be a contributing factor to obesity," notes John Winkelman, MD, PhD, medical director of the Sleep Health Center at Brigham and Women's Hospital and assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. "What most people do not realize is that better sleep habits may be instrumental to the success of any weight management plan."

Sleep, Sleep, Sleep
Convinced? Take action. If you regularly get less than six hours of sleep per night, turn in earlier---and follow these steps for a restful night. But if you get plenty of sleep yet still feel groggy in the morning, you may have sleep apnea—a condition that cuts off your breathing for a few seconds over and over again through the night. You’ll find tips at the end of this list for apnea, but one big clue is loud snoring and snuffling.

Create bedtime rituals that relax you. Have a warm bath or shower. Read something light and entertaining for a few minutes. Snuggle with your partner. A nightly habit signals to your body and brain that sleep is next on the agenda.

Get up at the same time every morning. Yes, experts advise keeping the same wake-up time even on weekends, holidays, and days off. Your body’s sleep system loves a routine.

Avoid naps…if possible. If you’re having trouble sleeping at night, try to not doze during the day. If you must, make it less than an hour and end your nap before 3 pm so that you’ll be sleepy again at bedtime.

Skip drinks that disrupt sleep. Don’t have any caffeine after lunchtime…the effects can linger for hours afterward. And avoid beer, wine, and cocktails within six hours of sleeping, too.

Don’t go to bed hungry…or too full. Both can keep you awake. If you tend to feel hungry near bedtime, have a snack an hour or two before you turn in.

Make bedtime worry-free. If your mind tends to rove over the day’s stresses, and anticipate tomorrow’s tensions, try writing down your worries an hour or so before bedtime. Do this outside your bedroom, to keep it a sanctuary of peace.

Set the stage for sleep. Experts suggest keep your bedroom dark, quiet, and cool at night. But make sure you’re warm enough under your covers—one European study has found that having warm feet promotes the relaxation that leads to sleep. Slip on soft socks or layer an extra blanket over the end of your bed.

Can’t nod off? Get up and do something boring. Go into another room (so that you don’t begin to associate your bed with sleeplessness) and read something dull.

If you snore or feel groggy in the morning, talk with your family doctor. You may have obstructive sleep apnea, a serious condition in which the muscles in the throat relax so much that your airway closes for a few seconds. Breathing pauses and your brain sends a signal to wake up and take a gulp of air. This can happen hundreds of times a night, though you may not know its happening. Sleep apnea has been linked with overweight, pre-diabetes, diabetes, and high blood pressure.