Sleep, fat loss, and fat gain

Tom Venuto
How to burn body fat and keep it off for life,
without supplements, pills or starvation dieting:
Burn the Fat

You've probably seen the magazine articles or news blurbs that say, "lack of sleep can
make you fat!" There is a lot of confusion however, about the mechanism. It's not
uncommon for people to believe there is a cause and effect relationship between sleeping less and gaining weight.

However, if that were the case, then you would always gain weight
if you slept less even if your food intake stayed the same. To the contrary, if you sleep
less AND eat less, rest assured you will lose weight. If you are awake more hours and you
are more active during those increased waking hours, again, rest assured you will lose
weight. Almost all the research on this subject has been cross sectional and therefore
does not prove causality. Research suggests that the likely explanation is a disruption
in hormones which can affect appetite and food intake so you are more likely to eat more
when you are sleep deprived.

For example, a new study published in the December 2007 issue
of "Nutrition Research Reviews" says that sleep deprivation can reduce leptin (the anti
starvation hormone, also known as an anorexigenic hormone) and increase ghrelin, a stomach
hormone that increases hunger.

This makes total sense. Think about it: less sleep equals more awake time. More awake
time equals greater energy needs. Greater energy needs can be satisfied by increasing
hunger hormones. Leptin and ghrelin are appetite-stimulating hormones. The human body is
incredible and amazingly self-regulating, isnt it?

In addition, when hormones are out of balance, that can affect nutrient paritioning.
Nutrient paritioning refers to where the energy comes from when you have a calorie
deficit - fat or lean tissue - and where the energy goes when you are in a calorie
surplus - fat or lean tissue. So, when partitioning hormones are messed up due to sleep
deprivation, it's entirely possibly that you are more likely to add fat (not muscle) when
in a surplus and lose muscle (not fat) when in a deficit. This is similar to what happens
during stress. Stress also
does not "cause" fat gain, but it certainly correlates to
fat gain, for similar reasons. Imagine what happens when
you are stressed AND sleep deprived?

Some people seem to get by with less sleep than others. I know many people, myself
included, who excel physically on 6-7 hours a night, so there is certainly a variation in
sleep needs from
person to person.

Developing sleep habits that promote deep, high quality sleep
may also reduce sleep needs an hour or two. This includes going
to bed and waking up at the same time every night, getting to
sleep early and awake early to maximize night time sleeping hours
and daylight waking hours, sleeping in a dark room, avoiding alcohol and stimulants prior
to bedtime, reducing stress and exercising regularly.

However, in light of past research and the new data that was just
published, if in doubt, it's surely better to err on the side of a little more sleep than
a little less sleep, if more muscle and
less fat is your goal.

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
Author of Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle
Burn the Fat

Reference

The influence of sleep and sleep loss upon food intake and metabolism. Nutrition
Research Reviews, Dec 2007, 20:195-212, Cibele Aparecida Crispima, et al. Federal
University of Sao Paulo, Brazil