Poor sleep can be dangerous. There are tons of things like hormonal imbalance, weight gain, binge eating, etc., that can result from poor sleep or not sleeping sufficiently.

Until now, we have discussed how to get a good night’s sleep and how to improve the quality of your sleep (tap them to read more). But today, we will talk about how lack of sleep can affect your hormones, metabolism, hunger, and even blood sugar levels.

So if you are still awake, read this post to get more insights on sleep.

Poor sleep can cause hormonal imbalance

Ghrelin, also known as the hunger hormone, is primarily made in the stomach. It sends a signal to the brain that you are hungry and need food. When the stomach is empty, ghrelin levels are high and decrease after we eat something.

Similarly, leptin, which is made by fat cells, does the opposite of ghrelin. It signals the brain that you’ve eaten sufficiently and now you can stop.

Adequate sleep regulates these hormones. But, when you are sleep deprived, ghrelin levels rise, and you start feeling hungry. Meanwhile, the brain becomes less responsive to leptin’s signal of being full.

If we are sleeping well and sufficiently, we will follow a natural cycle, and hormones will work properly. But, when we are sleep deprived, the body will try to compensate for that lost sleep with food, making us feel hungry at odd hours.

Deep sleep plays a significant role as well. Deep sleep is associated with lower ghrelin levels, and growth hormones will be more active. However, if we are not sleeping well, that natural cycle will break, causing hormonal imbalance.

Ever wondered why we crave junk food or unhealthy food when not sleeping well? Let’s learn more about it in the next section.

Increase binge eating

Tell me honestly, have you ever stayed up late at night and opted for fruit or salad instead of chips or cookies? You probably wouldn’t choose anything healthy in the middle of the night. Your brain craves sugary or unhealthy food to satisfy its hunger.

And yes, I wrote that correctly—it’s your brain that needs something sugary and spicy to satisfy its hunger. It may need a reward or some kind of feel-good food. Mostly, these feel-good foods are chips, cookies, ice cream, noodles, or something spicy.

While we are enjoying our favorite foods, dopamine levels rise, and we have come to associate certain foods with feeling good. This is, however, a hormonal imbalance.

Again, the imbalance of ghrelin and leptin should be considered. When we are up at odd hours, the already messed-up hormones send the wrong signals to the brain, making us crave food that isn’t good for us.

You know, there’s another hormone that’s high during these times: cortisol. Let’s learn more about it.

Stress increase

Cortisol, a type of hormone, is crucial for various functions like regulating blood pressure, blood sugar, and even immune response. Stress leads to an increase in cortisol, which can disrupt sleep patterns.

However, these factors are all interrelated. Lack of sleep increases cortisol, and high levels of cortisol make it harder to sleep.

If the body can’t get enough sleep, we become irritable and experience increased anxiety and depression.

Elevated cortisol can further reduce REM sleep. REM sleep is important for cognitive function and emotional regulation.

There are more effects of elevated cortisol, such as heart disease and brain health issues, but we will discuss those in another post.

Disturb metabolism

Lack of sleep or poor sleep can increase metabolic rate, making it harder to burn calories. Additionally, as we have read, ghrelin and leptin levels are disrupted, leading to increased food intake and potential weight gain.

Growth hormone production is also disrupted. This means the body can’t recover, can’t build muscle, and can’t burn fat effectively. Insufficient sleep hinders growth hormone production, making it harder to maintain muscle mass and slowing down metabolic rate.

The body may store more calories as fat if there’s insulin resistance, which we’ll discuss next.

Disturb blood sugar levels

Sleep deprivation can lead to insulin resistance, a condition where the body cannot use insulin effectively, causing glucose to be poorly utilized for energy.

Cortisol, which affects blood sugar levels, also increases due to lack of sleep and can contribute to the development of type-2 diabetes.

Rise in blood pressure is common among children, due to lack of proper sleep

Fluctuating sugar levels can increase cravings for sugary foods. Consuming these foods can lead to further spikes and crashes in blood sugar, exacerbating the problem and potentially leading to a cycle of poor sleep and unhealthy eating habits.

Disturb circadian rhythm

Now imagine if everything we discussed above happens all together. That’s what the circadian rhythm, our internal clock, regulates.

Nowadays, people stay awake unnecessarily while doing absolutely nothing. They stay up, using their phones and eating UPFs. Such habits disturb their inner cycle.

Melatonin, often referred to as the sleep hormone, rises in the evening and regulates the sleep-wake cycle. With improper sleep, it gets disrupted, making it difficult to fall asleep.

After a while, such people may develop insomnia, sleep apnea, heart disease, depression, and several other diseases. The solution to these problems is simply getting timely sleep.

Interestingly, this is common among people of my age group. Symptoms might not appear immediately, but as they grow older, they start experiencing the negative effects.

Conclusion

We’ve seen how crucial sleeping on time is. People often ignore it, and eating at night seems cool for a while. However, these habits can disturb the whole body and even shorten life.

There are different parameters for how much sleep one needs according to their age, but for simplicity, let’s aim for 7-8 hours.

Make sure you sleep at the same time daily and wake up at the same time to set your circadian rhythm. Eating at the right time, especially at night, is also important. Don’t ignore meals at proper times. Give 2-3 hours of gap before sleep and make sure dinner is done before 8 pm

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Next week, I have a very special post coming up so stay connected.

Remember to smile.