Healthy Considerations

For people with sleep disorders, a healthy diet and regular exercise is not enough to combat weight gain. If you suffer from sleep apnea then beware if you’re only losing sleep and not the unwanted fat.

Yep! Not getting enough sleep is a known culprit to weight problems.

If you find it practically impossible to stop gaining weight then you might have a hidden sleep problem, such as apnea that is harming your body’s hormone levels and causing your weight gain.

And this is not some rare situation. You might be one of the estimated 80 million Americans with sleep apnea who has not yet been diagnosed!

If you have been diagnosed with sleep apnea then you’ll find weight loss will come naturally once you begin treating your apnea. The good night’s sleep brings balance to your body’s functions helping you to lose weight and regain your health.

Sadly some apnea patients feel overwhelmed when using their CPAP therapy and suffer the consequences of not regularly using it. They notice unexplained weight loss and think it is just due to aging when it could have been prevented.

Here’s some things to understand about the connection between apnea and weight gain:

1. Most of you don’t have time to feel run down from lack of sleep. Your body’s solution is to crave immediate energy by carbo-loading in the form of sugar, carbohydrates and other calorie rich foods. In a study by the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, patients with the most extreme cases of sleep problems were also consuming the most calories, protein, cholesterol and saturated fat.

2. The Quebec Family Study found that short sleepers (five to six hours a night) were 35% more likely than average sleepers to have an 11-pound weight gain over six years.

3. Lack of deep, restful sleep increases the levels of the hormone ghrelin in your gastrointestinal tract. This hormone functions to stimulate your appetite. Yes, it makes you feel hungry. It turns out that good night’s sleep is nature’s appetite suppressant.

Related posts:

1. Diagnosing Sleep Apnea
2. Answering Common Questions About Sleep Apnea
3. Insomnia Treatment Can Vary Based On Cause
4. Creating And Maintaining Balance – Free Download
5. How Do Low Carb Diets Work?

Written by Pam McKee