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Here’s an easy thing you can do to help yourself lose more weight: get enough sleep. A study recently published in the Annals of Internal Medicine shows the value of getting the proper amount of sleep each night in one’s ongoing battle against the bulge.Study participants who got 5 ½ hours of sleep or less each night lost less weight than those who were following the same diet and exercise plan and got 8 ½ hours of sleep each night. The study followed 10 dieters, each of whom consumed 10% less calories each day than they would normally eat.

 All of the ten dieters lost an average of 6.6 pounds during the study. However, the dieters who had 8 ½ hours or more of sleep per night lost more fat than the dieters who got 5 ½ hours or less sleep each night. The sleepy dieters (as we’ll call the group who slept just 5 ½ hours or less each night) lost mostly nonfat body mass, including protein, muscle, and valuable tissue building blocks.

Why did this occur? Researchers theorized that the change in amount of fat lost by the two groups of dieters was due to the hormone ghrelin, which is produced in the gastrointestinal tract. Ghrelin works to stimulate hunger, slow our metabolism and help us to retain fat. Ghrelin levels are thought to be changed by sleep loss. For those who didn’t get enough sleep, more protein in the body was surmised to be converted into glucose to help the brain and body work more efficiently, making the levels of ghrelin in the body rise. This promotes hunger and fat retention.

Another  study in Chicago followed twelve normal weight men who were deprived of sleep for two days. During this time period, ghrrelin levels increased dramatically, as did their appetite and craving for carbohydrates and high-calorie foods.


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