Sleep and hunger

THE INTERDEPENDENCE BETWEEN SLEEP AND HUNGER

 

A cutting-edge study by researchers at Columbia University shows that people who get fewer hours of sleep than they need gradually gain weight, and so soon end up with a higher-than-normal body weight.

The research revealed that both men and women who regularly averaged less than 4-5 hours of sleep per night were 23% more likely to become overweight compared to those who usually got about 6-8 hours of restful sleep. Study author Dr James Gangwisch says there is increasing research in the field identifying hormonal imbalances that are caused by insufficient sleep periods. It has been found, for example, that following a systematic lack of restful sleep, ghrelin levels rise considerably and in an accelerated manner, inducing, among other things, an exaggerated and difficult-to-control appetite in those who systematically deprive themselves of restful and regenerative sleep.
Recent studies have also shown that ghrelin levels correlate inversely with energy reserves. Since restful sleep, which is correlated with vital needs, contributes to an increase in the being's energy reserves, this means that ghrelin levels are not forced to rise when a person is getting restful sleep. However, under conditions of massive energy consumption, which is not even compensated for by sleep, ghrelin levels rise considerably and this causes compensatory changes which are then reflected in the form of abnormal weight gain.
Researcher Alain Dagher also points out that with an accelerated increase in ghrelin levels, some undesirable behavioural side-effects can occur, by altering the brain's natural sense of reward, which can cause all sorts of mood swings and even depression. Thus systematic sleeplessness associated with excessive and chaotic eating can create large variations in ghrelin levels, leading to possible behavioural disturbances.
Grelin has recently been implicated in both the regulation of insulin actions and glucose homeostasis. Thus, most modern studies indicate an inverse correlation between systemic ghrelin and insulin levels. Insulin decreases ghrelin concentrations and ghrelin inhibits insulin secretion. The hyperglycaemic effect of ghrelin is due on the one hand to its endocrine actions and on the other hand to its direct effect on the hepatocyte to stimulate gluconeogenesis. Ghrelin and insulin appear to act in a mutually complementary relationship, which is also profoundly significant in the context of Chinese medical tradition, which points to the existence of such a complementary functional relationship between the stomach energy organ and the spleen-pancreas energy organ, a complementarity reflected in the interdependence of the corresponding energy meridians (S meridian - SP meridian).
We can thus state that there is an intimate functional link between the need to sleep and the need to eat that should not be neglected. Any imbalance in the one can lead to an imbalance in the other, due to biological factors controlling these two essential natural needs. Excessive sleeplessness can therefore lead to overweight under conditions of consecutive overeating. But at the same time, a correct understanding of these functional interdependencies can be of great help in maintaining human health and balance.
A cutting-edge study by researchers at Columbia University shows that people who get fewer hours of sleep than they need gradually gain weight, and so soon end up with a higher-than-normal body weight.

  • Ghrelin is a peptide-structured hormone produced by endocrine cells in the gastrointestinal mucosa as well as by epsilon cells in the pancreas, which are responsible for stimulating hunger. Thus, studies have shown that ghrelin stimulates appetite and food intake, regulates carbohydrate metabolism and energy homeostasis, stimulates acid secretion and gastric motility. Due to these effects, changes in ghrelin levels have been found to be more or less involved in the process of manifestation of related diseases such as anorexia, obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome or gastric ulcer. In these conditions, harmonious modulation of ghrelin activity is beneficial, which is why maintaining a balance of this hormone is of clinical benefit.