The relationship between sleep and metabolic health
I recently have been having trouble sleeping for the full 8 hours every night and like everyone else, I've always been told that 8 hours is required for everyday function. Today however I was curious about the effects of sleep deprivation and came across an article that I found to be quite interesting with regards to our metabolic health. Today I'm going to summarise it but I will also include a link to the website, which is an important read if you find this subject interesting.
The article starts with a discussion on appetite hormones and how they are affected by consistent nights with less than 7 hours of sleep. It turns out that the hormones ghrelin and leptin are altered by this shortened sleep duration and cause us to crave more food.
Ghrelin increases our appetite and is released by cells in the stomach lining. When your stomach is "growling," that is the ghrelin hormone talking. Conversely, the hormone leptin, made by our fat cells, lowers our appetite. Studies have revealed that sleep deprivation can lead to increased ghrelin and decreased leptin, resulting in an overall experience of constantly being hungry.
The article goes on to mention stress hormones and that our late nights can delay natural cortisol levels at night. Cortisol levels are meant to be lowest around midnight, before naturally increasing towards waking hours. Delayed cortisol levels can have negative effects on further sleep and can cause higher stress levels.
delaying your bedtime could lead to high cortisol levels in the middle of the day, rather than just in the morning. Sustained high levels of cortisol can lead to an increased amount of insulin in the blood, which promotes the accumulation of belly fat and has the potential to lead to prediabetes, type 2 diabetes, and other metabolic disorders. An increase in cortisol levels during the day may induce prolonged feelings of stress, increased food cravings, and further insomnia—promoting a recurrent, cyclical pattern.
Furthermore, cravings for ultra processed foods, sugars and alcohol become even more appealing with sleep deprivation. This is potentially because of the endocannabinoid system, which controls biological systems including sleep, mood and appetite.
Lastly the article goes on to explain why this lack of sleep can lead to insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is a driving factor in pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes.
The exact mechanism behind the causal relationship between insufficient sleep and insulin resistance is still being studied, however, some studies note that increased inflammatory markers, like C-reactive protein and hormone dysregulation, such as cortisol may be involved.
After reading this article it has certainly informed me on how my sleep issues could be affecting me. I know far too many people share my issues with late nights and lack of sleep though, so I hope this has shed some light on the issues it can cause. The article unfortunately debunks recovery sleep as a viable method to negate negative health effects and therefore requires us all to fix our sleep schedules. While I have summarised this article with a good amount of detail, I urge you to click the link below to explore it further and in greater detail. I have also included some further links to similar articles that are an interesting read with similar topics. Happy reading!
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