Weight Gain

Healthy Sleep Can Lead to Healthy Weight

Sleep helps regulate many of our body's functions … including weight maintenance.

Maintaining a healthy weight is an issue that millions of people of all ages deal with every single day. With all its social associations and implications, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that weight is actually a much more complex, biological conversation that requires a nuanced approach.

A healthy weight is very much dependent on your own body and its needs. And while a healthy, balanced diet and proper physical activity are part of the equation, it is important to not forget the role that sleep plays.

Studies have shown that people who get frequent, good-quality sleep tend to weigh less than those who don’t get the rest they need. People with sleep deficiencies have distorted quantities of the hormones that control hunger. This creates an amplified appetite and increases your preference for high-calorie foods.

For many people, emotional or stress eating can become a coping mechanism for fatigue, or as a means of staying awake. Your body is craving sleep or hydration, not food, but in a sleepy state, it can be difficult to discern the difference.

If you’ve noticed that in conjunction with your weight gain or inability to lose weight, you’ve also been experiencing sudden mood swings, increased sadness, feeling groggy and sleepy, crashing in the middle of the day, and/or waking up consistently throughout the night, it may be time to consult a sleep doctor.

Sleep doctors specialize in treating all sleep-related disorders. If you find out that you have obstructive sleep apnea, Dr. Kent Smith can provide you with more information on our various treatment options, including CPAP therapy and oral appliance therapy.

By taking charge of your sleep, you are limiting your chances of developing a condition associated with unhealthy weight gain and/or obstructive sleep apnea. You don’t have to continue feeling this way. Reach out today.