Constantly having a poor night's sleep can not only affect your mood, but your waistline, too. We recently sat down with Andy Retberg, Exercise Physiologist with Mercy Health's Bariatric Surgery Program.
Retberg added that when we don't get good sleep, it affects our hormones, specifically Ghrelin and Leptin. Ghrelin signals us to eat, therefore, when we are sleep deprived, that could cause us to be hungry, he added. Leptin actually signals us to stop eating and that is decreased when we don't get enough sleep. The combination of the two makes it difficult to maintain a healthy diet, according to Retberg.
Also, when we are tired, we have a tendency to reach for foods high in sugar and calories. When we are tired, pushing ourselves to exercise is challenging. Retberg said that research shows that when we put exercise off for one day, there is 68 percent likelihood that we will skip it another day.
Just getting a good night's sleep, alone, does not mean that you will magically just start shedding pounds, it just means that our energy will be better and we will be more focused to exercise, eat healthier, etc.
Some ways to help you unwind and rest more peacefully include everything from limiting technology before bed, to keep stress down, all the way to avoiding spicy food which can cause heartburn.
For more information on Mercy Health's Bariatric's Surgery Program, visit www.mercyhealth.com
