Throughout your life, you spend an average of between 25 and 27 years sleeping. Sleep is that important. And that is also why sleeping too little can be bad for your health. Not only would you be more susceptible to stress and more likely to suffer from illness and injury, but it could also increase your body fat. We will discuss this last point here.
Is too little sleep unhealthy for you?
Good sleep is essential for your daily functioning and overall health. Without enough sleep, you have difficulty concentrating, you are more likely to make mistakes, and you are more emotionally unstable.
What many people don't realize is that sleep is just as important as eating and drinking. Structural sleep deprivation can cause serious health problems.
Adults need an average of 8 hours of sleep per night to function properly. Too little sleep can burden your organs and increases the risk of obesity, Alzheimer's, cardiovascular disease, depression and concentration problems.
What is too little sleep?
8 hours of sleep is still the starting point for 'good sleep'. Of course this differs per person, but for everyone, both the quality of sleep and the amount of sleep must be correct. You can't have a good night's sleep if either one is bad.
With a good night's sleep, also from an evolutionary point of view, your night should end because you naturally wake up rested.
In the society we live in today, very few people succeed in this. How often do you get up rested and without an alarm clock?
In studies, researchers have extensively tested what happens when someone gets too little sleep. In these sleep studies, they often let participants sleep between 4-6 hours
Why is too little sleep unhealthy for you?
As humans, we have a fully automatic 'program' that is activated outside of our consciousness if we consume too little food for too long.
Suppose you continue with the 5 Day Fast protocol after the 5 days, this program will be activated automatically. Your body will do everything internally to stay alive.
One of the things that happens is that your 'stress level' increases and you naturally sleep shorter. Why does this happen? You sleep shorter so that (evolutionarily speaking) you can search for food better and longer. Your body prefers to convert the food you consume into fat reserves as quickly as possible.
Now research by Dr. Matt Walker states that this effect unfortunately also occurs the other way around.
If you don't sleep enough, your body sees this as a 'danger of dying'. Which means that you immediately enter a heightened state of stress and your body will more quickly try to store more fat reserves.
In short, your body responds almost immediately to sleep deprivation. You feel this best when you haven't slept all night. Anyone who does that knows that it is absolutely not good for you.
What happens in my body when I don't sleep enough?
Sleep deprivation has a significant impact on your health. Below, the consequences of too little sleep are described based on four important questions.
What are the effects of sleep deprivation on your appetite?
Published sleep studies show that too little sleep throws your 'appetite hormones' completely out of balance:
- Leptin (provides a feeling of satiety after eating) decreases by 18%.
- Ghrelin (gives a feeling of hunger) increases by 28%.
In addition, people who lack sleep have more cravings for unhealthy food:
- 33% more desire for sweet snacks such as chocolate, ice cream and cookies.
- 30% more desire for carbohydrate-rich foods such as pasta, bread and pizza.
- 45% more cravings for salty snacks.
What are the effects of sleep deprivation on your energy consumption?
When you lack sleep, you are less active and exercise less. This is because you are subconsciously focused on energy saving. In practice, this means that if you get too little sleep:
- Over a period of a month, eat extra for 2 to 3 days (200 to 300 kc per day).
- Less energy is used because you move less.
What are the effects of sleep deprivation on your stress levels?
With chronic sleep deprivation, your cortisol level (increased stress level) continuously rises. An increased cortisol level ensures that your body stores as much energy as possible as fat and there is little to no focus on recovery. Everything is aimed at 'survival'.
What are the effects of sleep deprivation on your mood?
With sleep deprivation, the part of your brain that Dr. Matt Walker calls the ' CEO of your brain ', out. This affects your emotions. In the video below, Dr. Matt Walker explains what sleep deprivation means for your emotions.
Dr. Matt Walker at the TED Series on YouTube (3:41 min): “How sleep affects your emotions”
Research by Dr. Matt Walker shows that if you have the mental strength to 'diet' during this period and your body has to rely on your reserves, your body only gets 40% of the energy it needs from body fat and 60% from breaking down muscle. This leads to the opposite of what you actually want to achieve.
Catching up on sleep at the weekend, is that possible?
Unfortunately, it turns out to be impossible to catch up on sleep during the weekend. The negative health effects mentioned above also apply to people who sleep too little during the week and try to make up for this during the weekend. Even if you can sleep undisturbed for as long as you want on the weekend, it is not enough to repair the damage.
Watch the video Dr. Matt Walker: catching up sleep on the weekend is impossible , and listen from at least 1:59 how Dr. Matt Walker explains this based on the results of a study.
Sleep Deprivation and Weight Gain: What's the deal?
Sleeping too little will cause you to gain weight. Sleep deprivation throws your appetite hormones out of balance, increases your stress levels, reduces your energy expenditure, and negatively affects your emotions. These factors together cause you to eat more and exercise less, which leads to weight gain.
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