A good night’s sleep involves a lot more than just sleeping for a set number of hours. Typically, it’s advised that adults get between seven and nine hours of sleep each night. While the time you spend asleep is a great jumping off-point when you’re looking to get quality sleep, it is nowhere near the entire picture of what is means to have high sleep quality. But what is sleep quality, exactly? And how is it connected to your bodyweight? Read on to learn all you need to know about how quality of sleep can influence weight.

What is sleep quality?

To understand sleep quality, it’s important to first understand what sleep is and everything that goes on within your body when you shut your eyes at night. The process of sleep may seem simple – close your eyes, sleep, wake up! – but it’s much more than that.

Sleep revolves around the body’s circadian rhythm, which is our internal clock. The clock itself follows a 24-hour period and affects the physical and mental changes that go on during that period. Importantly, the circadian rhythm controls your sleep–wake cycle, which determines how you sleep at night and how you awake each morning. It’s tied in with consistent, restorative patterns of sleep, so if your circadian rhythm is off, so is your sleep.

While you’re in the sleep state of the sleep–wake cycle, you go through various stages, each with its own important physiological purpose. The stages are:

• Stage 1: Light Sleep. This stage lasts only five to 10 minutes and primes you to get a good night’s rest by slowing down the body and mind.
• Stage 2: Secondary Light Sleep. This stage causes more changes in the body to prepare you for the next stage. Your eye movements, muscle and brain activity begin to slow. However, brain waves can spike sporadically during this stage, which experts believe helps retain long-term memory.
• Stages 3 and 4: Deep Sleep. These occur when the body is completely relaxed. Your breath rate, blood pressure, and body temperature are all decreased during this stage so that the body can release hormones designed to repair and produce tissue as well as moderate immune function.
• Stage 5: REM Sleep. This is probably one of the most well-known stages because of how often it is talked about. It’s the time in which the body processes and stores information through the act of dreaming.

These stages all have a specific role to play in our quality of sleep, but they are also symbiotic in the sense that a person must go through all the stages three or four times per night to get a good quality sleep.

How are sleep and weight related?

It may seem as though sleep and weight couldn’t possibly be related. After all, you’re not overeating in your sleep or slacking out on that exercise session! However, the two often go hand-in-hand because of the physiological processes that occur within the body during sleep.

The connection between sleep and weight has a lot to do with whether a person gets good quality sleep every night, or whether they continue to burn the midnight oil and avoid the shut-eye their body needs to be rested for the following day.

Recent research has found that sleep can play a role in obesity as well as during weight loss journeys. When looking at this from a sleep quality standpoint, the length of sleep as well as how “good” it is are both factors in weight. 

How does bad sleep affect your metabolism?

Your metabolism is the process that turns the food you eat into energy. It also provides cells with energy they need to complete their basic functions. During sleep, the body’s metabolic rate, or the rate at which it burns calories for energy, is reduced by roughly 15%.

Some may draw the conclusion that because you’re burning fewer calories during sleep, you may be able to mitigate this by sleeping less during the night. However, the opposite can be true.

Even though you burn fewer calories during the night, if you don’t spend enough time in good quality sleep, your metabolism can actually malfunction when you are awake, leading to issues that can either drive weight gain or slow weight loss. This is because of how sleep can affect glucose as well as insulin sensitivity. When people do not get proper sleep on a regular basis, their body’s ability to use glucose stores effectively is hindered, as is their insulin response.

Does quality of sleep affect weight?

When looking at sleep in relation to weight loss programs, research has found that people who get better sleep on a regular basis are more likely to have weight loss success over those who don’t. This is likely because of the aforementioned effects that sleep has on the function of the metabolism.

What’s more is that when people are losing weight, they are often subject to muscle mass loss as well. However, if you incorporate good-quality sleep into your weight loss plan, studies have shown that you are more likely to lose more fat while preserving your muscle mass. 

To sum up: while not getting enough good-quality sleep can be harmful to various areas of your health, it can also be harmful to your waistline.

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Many factors are at play when it comes to our weight. Food (the types eaten and how much), exercise (how often we move our body), and genetics can all play a role in whether a person gains or loses weight easily, or how well they are able to maintain a healthy weight. Metabolism – the rate at which we burn or store calories – can also influence weight.

There are other lesser-known factors that contribute to weight loss or gain just as strongly as those mentioned above. One such factor that many people either don’t know about, or pay little attention to, is stress levels. Read on to learn how stress can influence weight in terms of both loss and gain.

What is chronic stress?

Everyone experiences stress at some point in their lives. Whether those stresses are small, such as being stuck in traffic while late for work, or large, such as losing a loved one, feeling stressed from time to time is unavoidable. Typically, passing stressors don’t do much in the way of weight gain or loss, because the body can cope well with the type of stress that doesn’t stick around. However, when chronic stress strikes, it’s a whole different story.

Chronic stress is characterized as consistent and unrelenting periods of high stress that tend to last for three months or more. People who experience chronic stress often find themselves dealing with other physical symptoms such as aches and pains or the inability to get a good night’s rest. When a person deals with this level of stress for a long time, several physiological changes can occur.

One such change is the level of cortisol in the blood. Cortisol is referred to as the primary stress hormone. In the natural stress response, cortisol raises and encourages the release of more glucose into the blood stream. That glucose is then used by the brain and bodily tissues as a way to repair injury. It also stops the functioning of certain processes that could hinder a person’s ability to fight or flee in a dangerous situation.  

During a chronic stress situation, levels of cortisol stay high and the processes that are hindered as a form of protection remain that way, even when there’s no threat or danger. This leads to various malfunctions within the body, one of which can affect your weight.

How does chronic stress affect your weight?

Chronic stress can affect your weight in different ways because of the high levels of cortisol you’re experiencing. High levels of cortisol change the way many processes in the body function and can make it difficult to maintain a healthy weight by either encouraging weight loss or weight gain. But how does stress cause weight gain or loss, exactly?

Can stress cause weight gain?

Cortisol and weight gain often go hand in hand because of the way the hormone affects the body. When a person is constantly under stress, they may experience sugar cravings because the body is using up all the glucose it has stored in order to be ready for the perceived threat.

However, when there is no threat and that glucose storage is getting used up, the body will crave more and more sugar because it won’t have any left to power up the areas needed for the fight or flight response. This increase in sugar cravings can lead to a person eating more sugary foods that cause weight gain. The body also stores sugar after stressful situations so that it’s well prepared, and if these stores don’t get used as energy, they can end up on your waistline. 

If you’re trying to lose weight but are constantly stressed, cortisol will make that difficult, too. This is because cortisol slows down your metabolism. When the metabolism slows, less calories are burned on a day-to-day basis and you will find it increasingly difficult to lose weight.

How to stop cortisol weight gain

If you want to stop the cortisol weight gain, you will first have to lower your levels of cortisol – that is, by reducing your stress levels. This can be easier said than done, but one proven way you can do this is by practicing mindful meditation. Studies have shown that the practice of meditation can effectively lower cortisol levels in people who perform it regularly. Regular moderate exercise may also help to lower cortisol levels over time, leaving you less stressed in the long run and more able to either lose weight or maintain your weight over time.

Research has shown that other activities and stress reduction techniques can also help to lower cortisol levels within the body. These activities include:

• Music or art therapy
• Yoga
• Being out in nature
• Focusing on positives

Does stress cause you to lose weight?

On the opposite side of the spectrum, stress can also cause a person to lose weight. While most of the clinical research surrounding chronic stress and weight focuses heavily on weight gain, there are some reasons why stress could also cause a person to lose weight, including a loss of appetite or an inability to sit still (causing more calories to be burned throughout the day).

Chronic stress is bad for the body in many ways, and weight fluctuation is one of them. In addition to eating well and exercising, the best thing you can do to maintain a healthy weight is undertake stress management/reduction techniques that can help you curb chronic stress.

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The human body requires a specific amount of energy to get through each day. This energy comes from food in the form of calories. Even if you were to lie in bed all day doing nothing, your body would still need a set amount of calories to perform basic vital functions such as breathing and blood circulation. This set number of calories is what is referred to as metabolic rate.

There are two different types of metabolic rate: the basal metabolic rate (BMR) and the resting metabolic rate (RMR). Although these two terms are often used interchangeably, they are slightly different. The BMR is used to measure how many calories a person needs to perform the most basic of tasks. The RMR is used to measure how many calories the body burns while it is at rest.

To calculate a truly accurate BMR, a person must be in a lab setting and under very restrictive conditions whereas they can be measured in the morning before eating or exercising. There are, however, calculators you can use to measure your BMR if you plan to use it to help you reach your weight loss goals.

Why is metabolic rate important?

Knowing your BMR can be a great tool on the road to healthy weight management. This is because it allows you to see just how many calories your body is burning while at rest and how much energy your body needs daily to function. The BMR will be different for anyone, so sometimes, counting calories based on an average isn’t always enough to determine if you’re getting the right amount of energy per day.

For example, if your BMR is 1600 calories per day, that means that you will need to consume 1600 calories just to sustain yourself. This doesn’t account for activity levels. If you are more active, you will need to consume more to help balance the energy in versus energy out levels.

A popular equation used to calculate BMR is the Harris-Benedict BMR. It calculates for men and women separately. The equations are:

• BMR for men: 88.362 + (13.397 x your weight in kg) + (4.799 x your height in cm) – (5.677 x your age in years)
• BMR for women: 447.593 + (9.247 x your weight in kg) + (3.098 x your height in cm) – (4.330 x your age in years)

These equations are able to tell you exactly what your BMR is, which will give you the information you need to determine how many calories you need to consume or burn for weight loss or gain. Be aware that this equation does not take into account your activity level; however, there are Harris-Benedict BMR calculators online that can incorporate that factor for a more accurate measurement.

Does resting metabolic rate decrease with weight loss?

When someone loses weight, they may require less energy to get them through the day. This is because with less body weight, the body doesn’t have to work as hard to perform basic functions and thus less energy is expended throughout the day.

On the opposite side of things, when a person gains weight, their RMR is likely to increase. It also depends on the kind of weight a person gains. For example, muscle gain is more likely to increase RMR to a greater extent than fat gain would. This is because the energy used by fat is lower than the energy used by muscle.

Factors that can affect the RMR include:

• Age. As a person ages, they RMR decreases. This is because of typical age-related changes in weight and body composition caused by hormone changes, the body’s decreased ability to synthesize protein, and cell death.
• Eating less. When a person partakes in caloric restriction, their body lowers the RMR in an effort to conserve the energy it has reserved.
• Medications. Both antidepressants and stimulants can have an effect on RMR. Antidepressants tend to increase it because they are typically associated with weight gain, and stimulants tend to lower it because they are associated with weight loss.

Other than those factors, a person’s RMR is typically unchangeable because it is determined largely by their unique way of expending energy for basic life-sustaining functions. 

How do I speed up my metabolism for fat loss?

Although it can be difficult to manipulate your resting metabolic rate, there are things you can do to slightly speed up your metabolism and increase fat loss after you’ve calculated just how many calories your body needs.

One such thing is utilizing the thermic effect of food. Research has shown that the thermic effect helps to increase metabolism for a few hours after eating. The nutrient that offers the highest thermic effect is protein. By eating more protein, you can help to rev up your calorie burning after every meal.

You can also incorporate more exercise, since exercise is proven to help boost the calorie-burning powers of the metabolism. High-intensity workouts, specifically, are great for helping to boost the metabolism. Other ways you can help speed up your metabolism and thus speed up weight loss include drinking more cold water, drinking green or oolong tea, and eating spicy foods.

While you’re pretty much set with your RMR and BMR, you can use it to help you lose fat and get to a healthy overall weight.

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Being overweight or obese can be dangerous for a variety of different reasons. When many people focus on losing weight, a big part of their motivation comes from cosmetic reasons – but many people aren’t privy to the real health risks of carrying around excess weight.

How does obesity affect the body?

On a cellular level, the process of gaining weight occurs when new fat cells are formed, and along with old fat cells, begin to grow. Every person has a set number of fat cells; when weight loss occurs, those fat cells begin to shrink, not disappear. This could be why some people are more likely to be overweight or obese than others.

Obesity puts a strain on every system of the body. To put it into perspective, think about your body as a vehicle. When the trunk is completely empty, the car will run smoother and faster, and waste less gas. As the trunk begins to fill up, its performance continues to decrease. In terms of the body, as weight continues to build upon the frame, the body’s systems begin to lose their ability to do what they’re supposed to do.

How do you know if you have excess body fat?

Aside from visually seeing the weight on your body, knowing how much fat you have can be tricky. The Body Mass Index (BMI) has been used as an indicator since the 1800s, but recent research has found that it has no place in determining overall levels of health because of the factors it doesn’t take into consideration.

The best way to tell if you have excess fat but aren’t sure of it is to check your overall levels of health. If you get winded going upstairs or can’t do a single push-up, it could mean that your body isn’t carrying around as much muscle as you thought.

Risks associated with excess body fat

There are some serious health risks associated with being overweight. In comparison to those with healthy body weights, those who are obese have a higher risk for developing the following health conditions:

• Type 2 diabetes
• Heart disease
• Liver disease
• Kidney disease
• High cholesterol
• Stroke
• Osteoarthritis
• Breathing problems and sleep issues
• Cancer
• Mental illness
• Chronic pain and inflammation
• Early death

This list is not exhaustive, but it does paint a grim picture about how that excess body weight can be detrimental to one’s overall levels of a health.

Body systems affected by being overweight

When there is excess weight on the body, it doesn’t typically affect only one system, but rather the majority of them. The location of the highest levels of fat will be the deciding factor of what system is affected and how badly. Visceral fat is the type of fat that sits around the organs, and when it is found in high amounts, it can damage organ function.

Respiratory system

The respiratory system is the network of organs and tissues that help with breathing. When the body has too much fat, it can cause issues with this system by putting compression on the chest cavity, particularly the lungs and diaphragm. This leads to pulmonary damage. Excess fat can also decrease how well the respiratory functions by reducing muscle strength in the chest. The buildup of fat on the body can lead to asthma, airway hyperresponsiveness, and increased inflammation.

Digestive system

Obesity can lead to a variety of different digestive issues, such as gastroesophageal reflux disease, erosive esophagitis, gallstones, pancreatitis, and digestive organ cancers.

Reproductive system

Studies have shown that women who are overweight or obese have a harder time becoming pregnant due to anovulation and menstrual dysfunction. They can also experience infertility at higher rates than those who have a healthy amount of fat on their body, as well as a heightened risk for miscarriage and pregnancy complications.

Endocrine system

Obesity affects the endocrine system by altering the way the hypothalamic-pituitary hormone axes functions. This leads to problems with hormone release, which can cause hypothyroidism, hypogonadism, growth hormone deficiency, and Cushing’s Disease.

Cardiovascular system

Since those with too much excess weight require more blood to circulate oxygen throughout the body, the cardiovascular system has to work extra hard. This leads to high blood pressure, which in turn significantly raises the risk of heart attack. It can also change the structure and function of the heart because of how hard it has to work to get the same tasks done, leading to heart failure.

Mental health

Being obese can lead to a variety of different mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and eating disorders.

Liver

Being obese can also affect the liver because of buildup that can lead to inflammation and damage. When the liver can’t handle the input to output of fat, it begins to malfunction. This leads to fatty liver disease.  

Kidneys

When the body holds excess weight, the kidneys need to work harder to filter out waste. This can lead to an over-productive kidney function. As time goes on, this extra work causes strain on the kidneys and can lead to kidney disease.

Musculoskeletal system

Being obese can cause limited function in the way the muscles perform, hindering mobility, postural and dynamic balance, and strength over time. It also puts unnecessary pressure on the joints, which can deplete cartilage levels, leading to a variety of arthritic conditions.

Immune system

Since obesity can cause an inflammatory response in the body, it can lead to an impairment in the immune function. This leads the body to become more susceptible to infections and an increased rate of mortality when battling serious respiratory infections such as H1N1.  

Since being overweight or obese can negatively affect all bodily systems, it can be attributed to the onset of many different diseases. Losing weight can be tough, but it’s often a huge step in the right direction towards living healthily.

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The holidays are typically the time of year where everyone loosens their restrictions around diet and exercise. After all, with all the get-togethers and fun seasonal treats, it’s hard not to overindulge.

Research finds that the average person gains anywhere from 1–2 pounds during the holidays, which is much less than most people suspect. The main reason for the discrepancy in how much weight people actually gain and how much they think they gain is how they feel. Temporary bloating following heavy meals and lots of snacks can be the culprit behind feeling 10 pounds heavier.

Since weight gain can vary from person to person, only you will know how much weight you’ve put on over the holidays. The good news is that two to three weeks of overindulgence doesn’t tend to lead to too much weight gain. It can, however, lead to difficulty getting back into the swing of your diet and fitness routine. So, how can you get back on track after all the holiday fun is over?

Here’s how to fast-track your fitness – and how to drop holiday weight along with it.

How can I lose holiday weight fast with exercise?

The holiday weight you gained may be a little or a lot, depending on how relaxed you chose to be about your diet. The good news is that no matter how much weight you gained, there are some simple tips and tricks that can help you drop holiday heaviness. Since losing weight generally comes down to a combination of a calorie deficit and adequate exercise, focusing on what you eat and how much you move can lead to a quick reduction in that weight gain.

To get started with exercise in the new year, it can be helpful to add a new activity that you enjoy into your routine. The addition of something you’ve never done before will stimulate the mind, hold your interest, and provide you with a fun way to exercise. Research has shown that people who partake in physical activities that they enjoy and that provide more benefit than just healthy weight were more likely to stick to a routine, as well as to report higher levels of physical activity overall.

Exercises such as running or jogging, dancing, hiking, bicycling, and water sports can all lead to a high calorie burn. It’s all about finding something you love and sticking with it.  

How can I lose holiday weight fast with diet?

When it comes to diet, it may be hard to make the switch between all those sugary and salty treats you consumed over the holidays for plates of vegetables and low-carb foods. But it’s not impossible. There will be a period of adjustment, because sugar addiction is a real thing and it can be tough to deal with. The good news is that it passes relatively quickly, especially if you are someone who stays away from sugars for the better part of the year.

Cutting down on your sugar or refined carbohydrate intake, you’re likely to experience less hunger, which will lead to fewer calories eaten throughout the day. Adding in protein sources, vegetables, and healthy fats such as olive oil will also keep you satiated for longer, leaving you without the snack cravings that often come with the territory of overindulging in refined carbs and sugars.

If you want to lose the weight fact, restrictions will need to be set in place. Once you’ve dropped those extra couple of pounds, you can begin to slowly reintroduce some extra foods in moderation. After all, moderation is vital in limiting the chances for binge-eating unhealthy foods.

Some supplements can also be of great assistance when trying to lose weight after the holidays. Vital RX’s Fat Loss Subscription Box contains a combination of peptide supplements, vitamins, and nutrients to help kickstart a healthy weight loss journey.

How can I get workout results fast?

It’s crucial to take small steps in the right direction when it comes to changing diet and upping your workout routine. Research has shown that doing too much too quickly can lead to injury, burnout, or a stress response within the body. To get results quickly, you’ll have to improve your nutrition first.

Then, you’ll want to focus on the right type of exercise. An hour-long walk is good for you; however, an high-intensity 20-minute workout may help speed up results. This is because these types of exercises lead to the body’s improved ability to metabolize foods, leading to higher calorie burn in less time.  

How long does it take to get fitness levels up?

Fitness level improvements will vary depending on your starting point. If you work out all year round and just skipped the holidays, you will suffer from loss of muscle mass starting about two weeks after your last workout. Easing back into things will make it easier to keep up with form and prevent injury.

The first week back at your regularly scheduled routine will be harder than you remember, but your fitness levels are likely to be completely restored within one to two weeks. For those who are just starting a new routine, it may take a lot longer. Beginners can expect around eight weeks of hard to work to get to a moderate level of fitness.  

Taking a few weeks off every year to enjoy life and let loose can be good for the mind, which in turn is good for the body. It’s important to remember that those few weeks of holiday indulgence aren’t causing too much damage, and getting back into your healthy lifestyle is easier than you think. Motivation is crucial following the off time, and dropping holiday weight can be done by following the above tips closely.

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