Is Lack of Sleep Making You Fat?

There’s bad news if you’re not getting enough sleep at night. Not only can being sleep deprived make you fat, but it can burden you with the most dangerous type of fat – visceral fat. Visceral fat is the type of fat that deposits itself deep within the abdominal cavity adjacent to internal organs. Visceral adipose tissue is fat you can’t see except by MRI because it lies so deep, but it’s the kind most likely to lead to serious health problems such as heart disease, diabetes, and stroke.

Does Not Sleeping Enough Make You Fat?

According to a study carried out at Wake Forest University School of Medicine not getting enough sleep causes a person to have more visceral adipose tissue or fat. When they conducted a study they found that women under the age of forty who got five hours of sleep or less each night had significantly more visceral fat than those who got a good night’s sleep.

Even though the effects of too little sleep were worse than the effects of sleeping too much, the researchers found that slumbering too long was also associated with higher amounts of visceral fat. It seems that people are best served by striking a happy medium to reduce visceral fat. What do experts recommend? Between six and eight hours a night.

Other Effects of Too Little Sleep

The interesting question is why the effects of too little sleep on visceral fat is only seen in women under the age of forty. No one is quite sure why this is so; but getting too little sleep isn’t healthy at any age. Sleeping less than six hours is associated with a higher risk of heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and cancer in all age groups. Lack of sleep can also cause levels of stress hormones such as cortisol to go up and can lead to elevations in blood pressure.

Reducing Visceral Adipose Tissue: Other Factors

Other than getting a good night’s sleep without oversleeping, are there ways to reduce visceral fat? How much visceral fat you have is partially determined by genetics, but diet and exercise play an important role too. Exercise, especially short bursts of high intensity exercise, is better than low intensity exercise when it comes to blasting away visceral fat.

Eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables and limiting high carb potatoes and bread helps, as does substituting monounsaturated fats for saturated fats. The other challenge is to avoid stress as much as possible since it plays a role in visceral obesity. Don’t let the effects of too little sleep cause problems for you. Get six to eight hours of good quality sleep a night and add some high intensity exercise to your daily routine. It’s good for your heart – and for your belly.

by Dr. Kristie

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