People from all areas of the globe, especially in America,
are sleeping less. This lack of sleep mentality has
pervaded the American society and seems to be getting
worse. While we may accomplish more tasks on our "to-do"
list, we may be adding more pounds to our waistline as
a result.

The balance of your hormones affects your weight. The
most prevalent hormones that affect weight are two that
stimulate and control your appetite. The Ghrelin hormone
is pumping through your body when you feel hungry. The
leptin hormone tells you that you are full and don't
require additional food.

When you don't sleep enough your ghrelin and leptin
hormones are out of balance. They don't function properly.
Lack of sleep causes the levels of the ghrelin hormone to
increase in your system. This causes you to feel hungry
to a much greater extent.

Lack of sleep will make you feel tired and ravenous. This
is a result of the decrease of amount of leptin in your
system. This turns into a cylce that leads to the less
sleep means the more apt you are to gain weight.

If the production of ghrelin and leptin aren't convincing,
then consider this: there is a correlation between obesity
and sleep deprivation according to researchers at Stanford
University and the University of Wisconsin.

According to polls, 63% of Americans declare that they are not
getting a full 8 hours of sleep every night. Amazingly, 65% of
Americans are considered overweight or obese (Source:
usatoday.com, 12/06/2004). Coincidence? Perhaps.

How can lack of sleep add pounds to your waistline. Don't
you burn more calories while you are awake? Yes, you do
burn more calories while awake than sleeping. However,
then you often eat sugary snack foods when you could be
sleeping. These calories overshadow the fact that you
are awake. This is due to the decrease of leptin in
your system.

Plus, it is also true that we burn 60-65% of all calories
while our bodies are at rest. That means that only 35% or
so of all the calories we burn are the result of physical
activity. While there are certainly exceptions to this,
the fact remains that being awake does not translate into
rapid calorie burning.

No, most of us do not believe that sleep deprivation has
anything to do with our weight. But, with the majority of
Americans overweight and with a growing amount of research
illustrating the link between obesity and sleep
deprivation, people should start making shut eye a
priority.



About the author:
Peter Kilpton was the chief writer at Regarding Sleep. It was one of the webs most up to date Sleep sites.

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