Welcome to the Get Fit Guys, quick and dirty tips to slim down and shape up. My name is Ben

Greenfield. I'm the Get Fit Guy. And in today's episode, you're going to discover how sleep

affects your ability or inability to lose weight. Now, it's no secret that not sleeping enough,

considered to be less than seven hours of sleep per night,

can cause weight gain, even if you're on a weight loss diet.

For example, in research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine,

and I'll link to that research over in the show notes for this episode

at quick and dirty tips.com. Just go to episode number 299. Dieters were put on different

sleep schedules comprised of adequate sleep, meaning seven plus hours a night, and then not quite

enough sleep, less than seven hours per night. With adequate sleep, half of the weight the

dieters lost was from fat,

not muscle. And furthermore, those on a sleep-deprived diet experienced 55% less fat loss.

The sleep-deprived group also felt significantly hungrier, had less satisfaction after meals,

and lacked enough energy to exercise.

Now, there are a few biological mechanisms that explain why not sleeping enough can make you fat or disrupt your diet.

For example, with just four days of sleep deprivation, your body's ability to properly respond to insulin signals begins to diminish.

And University of Chicago researchers have found a 30% drop in

insulin sensitivity caused by lack of sleep. When you're not responsive to insulin, fat cells are far less

able to release fatty acids and lipids to produce energy. Blood glucose gets higher and any extra

fats and sugars circulating in your bloodstream cause you

to pump out even more insulin and eventually all that excess insulin can cause you to

begin storing fat in all the wrong places, including tissues like your liver, which leads

...