One of the things I have become aware of since delving into the holistic world of health coaching is the importance of sleep.
I have always been a “snoozer”, generally sleeping deeply, so have never given it much thought and I naturally lean towards being a night owl.
I believe a good night’s sleep does have the ability to make a bad day better ( like a swim in the sea) and I love the restorative powers of going into the world of zz’s.
Since doing a little self-coaching, I discovered that a big area of my life I wanted to improve is productivity, specifically in the form of waking and rising early, the secret it seems (surprise, surprise) is getting to bed earlier. Hence, with my new routine established I started to see the benefits.
Until …... the night of the mosquito!
A quote recently read “If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito “. This quote amused me as I have been known to abandon my bedroom, lock the mosquito in, and sleep on the couch.
Fast forward to 4pm and the potato chip cravings.
After my disturbed sleep I felt a little jaded the following day, and after a long day at the computer I was thinking, “it’s time for dinner soon”. I also needed a snack having not eaten a very substantial lunch. But my body was shouting “go and get some crisps “order pizza for dinner “.
I did manage to override this temptation, and have a healthy option, but it got me to thinking what’s going on in our chemistry to trick us into desiring such things??
Blame those tricky hormones
Some lab studies1 have found that shorter sleep was associated with greater hunger – especially the desire for high fat, high carbohydrate foods.
Dietary behaviour also appears to be related to sleep duration, studies observed that sleep loss was associated with increased odds of irregular eating behaviour, unbalanced food variety, snacking & eating out more.
Also observed were lower levels of leptin (the feel-full hormone) and higher levels of ghrelin (the hunger hormone).
Leptin sometimes called the satiety hormone, controls appetite by signalling your brain to stop eating, it also helps your brain regulate how much energy your body burns throughout the day. It helps inhibit hunger and regulate energy balance, so in the case of feeling hungry, this is the brains way of letting us know we need fuel.
Ghrelin the hunger hormone is made by the stomach, stimulates appetite, and prepares the body for food. A shift to increase hunger via these hormones may cause us to overeat.
Our pleasure-seeking brains
Neuroimaging experiments suggest that sleep restriction enhances hedonic stimulus processing in the brain and alters brain connectivity, providing greater reward from food after sleep loss; it may also blunt the appetite detectionregions of the brain during food craving, affecting food decisions.
Unhealthy food, saw responses in the brain area known to be associated with pleasure.
Regions involved in pleasure-seeking and food-related behaviors were activated to a greater extent by unhealthy compared with healthy foods, a pattern that was distinct from that observed after a period of regular sleep.
Under, restricted sleep unhealthy foods may be more desired than healthy foods and are consistent with overeating behaviors and greater weight gain observed in short sleepers.2
Hence when fatigue sets in the desire for the potato chip.
Did I succumb ??
I am happy to say this awareness that my brain was up to no good allowed me to override my cravings, and I opted for some avocado on a whole meal cracker before I went to the supermarket to shop for dinner, hence I resisted the urge to grab potato chips (this time )
However, life happens and there are times when we will be busy, tired, stressed and a pesky mosquito interrupts a sleep routine.
Being armed with a tool kit we can override the “potato chip calling “.
A few strategies:
- Eating at regular times to keep your hunger hormones balanced
- Regular eating keeps blood sugars stable and will help prevent sugar crashes that find us craving fast sugar or refined carb snacks.
- Be mindful of including fibre, protein, whole grains, and good fats in your meals.
Eg: smoked salmon and avocado on wholemeal or add some nut butter to an apple snack.
- Have healthy snacks on standby –> I try to always have a supply of nuts & hummus, celery or carrots chopped and ready to eat, yoghurt , avocado or homemade protein bars, for those feed me quick moments.
- Take a 10-minute active restoration – meditate for 10 minutes, take 10 long mindful breathes to rebalance the body
- Remember the 80/20 rule, if you do succumb to the pleasure foods enjoy them, then get back to nourishing your body with the good stuff going forward.
It’s what we do most of time that matters, little pleasures now and then are ok !
- Become mindful of a sleep routine and see how you feel after a few weeks.
- Start tuning into your body and its signals. A personal new awareness for me is that I am better served when I add protein to my lunch meals, a favourite is to add chickpeas to a salad.
As always, it’s all about balance.
Snooze well, breath and eat happy.
Until next time
Much love Sharon
References:
1. Hassan S Dashti et al. Short Sleep Duration and Dietary Intake: Epidemiologic Evidence, Mechanisms, and Health Implications, Advances in Nutrition, Volume 6, Issue 6, November 2015, Pages 648–659, https://doi.org/10.3945/an.115.008623
2. St-Onge, M-P et al. “Sleep restriction increases the neuronal response to unhealthy food in normal-weight individuals.” International journal of obesity (2005) vol. 38,3 (2014): 411-6. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3883872/
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