The Insomnia-Stress Connection

Are you sleeping well? If not, this could be causing you to gain weight. In fact, your metabolism may not be functioning properly without enough quality sleep. Losing weight may be more difficult, and chronic health conditions may occur. Knowing the symptoms of insomnia and how your hormones are affected is important.

Insomnia Symptoms

Sometimes, you may have a disruption of your sleep cycle. If it becomes a habitual disruption where you become restless and can’t sleep, you have insomnia. Insomnia is common among adults, but it’s usually very temporary. Many of us experience short-term insomnia lasting less than three months. Chronic insomnia lasts more than three months with at least three episodes each week. Common symptoms of insomnia may include:

• fatigue
• lack of focus or concentration
• poor memory
• mood disturbance
• sleepiness during the day
• low energy or motivation
• increased accidents or errors
• The Stress-Insomnia Link

Stress causes hyper arousal which can upset the balance between sleep and wakefulness. To know whether your insomnia is caused by stress, you should ask yourself some important questions. Is your insomnia situational, or do your sleep problems come and go with the occurrence or disappearance of stress? Are you frequently anxious? Do you have a hard time winding down at the end of the day? Are you often depressed or angry? If you can answer yes to any of these questions, your insomnia is most likely linked to stress.

How Insomnia Affects Your Hormones

Your nightly hormones are key in the weight loss process. Ghrelin is your go hormone, telling you when to
eat. Leptin is your pause hormone, telling you when to stop eating. When you are sleep deprived, you
have more ghrelin and less leptin. This equation’s sum is weight gain. A slower metabolism (which is also
a result from a lack of sleep) only multiplies weight gain or chronic health issues.

Summary

Now that you know how your hormones and health are affected by sleep deprivation, it’s important to find solutions to get the rest you need.