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Sleep - Is going to bed too late making you fat?
Featured in: Nutrition & Life
Our cells are sensitive to light and dark, so late nights disrupt cortisol rhythms, which raises night-time blood sugar, which gets stored as fat.Many of our hormones are intimately related to circadian rhythms, and their function gets thrown off when we completely ignore the fact that night follows day, and day follows night. During the longer days of summer, mammals are hardwired to find sustenance to store as fat, to help them last the shorter days of winter where they will be either hibernating or eating less due to lack of food availability.
In humans, this hardwiring shows up as a desire for carbohydrates. By choosing to stay up with the lights on, watching TV or doing computer work late at night long after the sun has gone down, our hormonal system is fooled into believing that it is still day, resulting in increased cortisol and insulin levels, which makes you want to snack, and most likely on carbohydrates. In today's wealthy countries, winter does not mean a lack of food availability, so late night snacking is often the result.
Even if you do not snack, staying up late regularly causes cortisol to release a nightly dose of sugar into the bloodstream for energy, insulin then rises to store that sugar as fat. Constantly high levels of insulin are an important factor in developing insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. And if you are insulin resistant, smelling a pastry will make you fat! Therefore, fat storage is largely controlled by the amount of light you are exposed to and the insulin resistance it causes.
Going to bed by 10pm lowers your night-time cortisol and insulin levels, and raises your melatonin levels, which prevents this whole cycle from developing. In the summer, when the light is long, we can get away with staying up a little longer, but when the sun goes down, bed should soon follow. In the winter most of us need about 9.5 hours of sleep.
Related Posts:
Exercise, fat loss, and the autonomic nervous system
Want fat loss? Aerobic exercise alone is not the answer
Light pollution messes with our hormones
Chek, Paul; How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy! Chek Institute, San Diego, CA, 2004.
Chek, Paul; Oliver, Clifford, Remsen, Julie; Optimum Health and Fitness Through Practical Nutrition and Lifestyle Coaching Chek Institute, San Diego, CA, 2002.
Formby and Wiley; Lights Out! Sugar, Sleep and Survival Pocket Books, New York, NY, 2000
Smolensky and Lamberg; The Body Clock Guide to Better Health Holt and Company, New York, NY, 2001.
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I have always been interested in what we can do to make ourselves as healthy as possible. We cannot change our genetics, but there is much that is within our control that can have an impact on whether we are healthy or whether we suffer with pain and disease.
I was the top graduating student at the University of Toronto in Physical and Health Education in 1992, where I studied anatomy, physiology, exercise physiology, nutrition and how exercise can improve health. In 1997 moved to Vancouver and started a personal-training business.
I became frustrated by my inability to help my clients through their various aches and pains, and pursued further education through the CHEK Institute in San Diego. I learned an incredible amount, and became far more effective with my clients suffering from low-back pain, but still found some clients did not respond as I felt they should and I didn't understand why.
I began to read and read. I began to appreciate how nutrition and other lifestyle factors can have a huge impact on healing or the lack of healing. It became obvious to me that there is a lot more to orthopeadic problems than simply looking at the physical. I took the CHEK Holistic Lifestyle Consultation course which solidified what I had been learning. Disease is a function of bodily systems being out of balance, and when we do what is necessary to bring the individual back into balance our health is restored.
My hope is that through this site you can travel the wellness journey with me and prevent illness, or if you are ill, you can learn some ways to become well again.
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Author: Details
First Name
Vreni
Last Name
Gurd
Degrees
BPHE, HLC 2, CHEK 3, CSEP-CEP, NSCA, ACSM
Short Bio
I have always been interested in what we can do to make ourselves as healthy as possible. We cannot change our genetics, but there is much that is within our control that can have an impact on whether we are healthy or whether we suffer with pain and disease.
I was the top graduating student at the University of Toronto in Physical and Health Education in 1992, where I studied anatomy, physiology, exercise physiology, nutrition and how exercise can improve health. In 1997 moved to Vancouver and started a personal-training business.
I became frustrated by my inability to help my clients through their various aches and pains, and pursued further education through the CHEK Institute in San Diego. I learned an incredible amount, and became far more effective with my clients suffering from low-back pain, but still found some clients did not respond as I felt they should and I didn't understand why.
I began to read and read. I began to appreciate how nutrition and other lifestyle factors can have a huge impact on healing or the lack of healing. It became obvious to me that there is a lot more to orthopeadic problems than simply looking at the physical. I took the CHEK Holistic Lifestyle Consultation course which solidified what I had been learning. Disease is a function of bodily systems being out of balance, and when we do what is necessary to bring the individual back into balance our health is restored.
My hope is that through this site you can travel the wellness journey with me and prevent illness, or if you are ill, you can learn some ways to become well again.
