How stress and poor sleep can cause weight gain.

Losing weight can be hard and it is easy to give in and give up. Especially due to lockdown! 

Additionally if you are not inclined towards exercise, you may struggle mentally to motivate yourself and cope with the hardships of dieting and exercise. 

You might want to explore options that you can combine with a diet and exercise regime to help you to recover and deal with the additional pressure.

Massage is definitely one option you might want to try and would you believe it? After all, you are lying down, you are stationary! However a study from the Journal of Obesity & Metabolic Syndrome (Kim and Ahn, 2003)  in Korea shows that having a massage or two can increase the rate at which you lose weight. Two groups of women were given a diet, exercise regime and behavioral exercises to follow. One of the groups was given abdominal massage while the other was not. The women who were given the massage lost more weight, body fat and had a smaller weight circumference then the group who did not receive the massage. 

So, if you are stationary during massage how can it help with weight loss? 

Research show that massage is effective way to improve sleep quality (Field et al, 2007). Bad sleep quality has been found to increase weight gain (Patel and Hu, 2008). 

Matthew walker in his book ‘why we sleep’ says that ‘the less you sleep, the more you are likely to eat. Additionally the body struggles to lower sugar in the blood.  So,  a few nights of poor quality sleep can make you pre-diabetic.   

Another reason Walker sites it that sleep effects two chemicals leptin and Ghrelin. High amounts of Leptin decrease your appetite while Ghrelin has the opposite affect, increasing your appetite.

A researcher who Walker cites, Dr Eve Van Cauter found that participants who had their sleep restricted to 5-6 hours compared with a group who had 8 and a half hours where more hungry and had a raised appetite. This is because poor sleep increases levels of Ghrelin and decrease the amount of leptin causing large appetite in those participants who were restricted to just 5 hours of sleep a night.  These  participants would eat 300 more calories a day then their eight hour counterparts.

Furthermore lack of sleep inflates levels of endocannabinoids which  increase appetite, while tiredness the  following day through lack of sleep  reduces the amount of time spent exercising and leads to greater muscle loss. For example ,when participants were put on a weight loss programme, one group had eight hours of sleep and another five and a half. Both groups lost weight but the group that had the less sleep lost 70% of the weight loss  from muscles and 30% from  fat while the group that had more sleep had 50% weight from muscle and 50 % from fat. 

It is also true that stress can increase your waistline as cortisol increases appetite. It makes you crave energy rich foods and comfort foods. High cortisol levels means you also put more fat on visceral fat or deep belly fat. This type of fat releases hormones and immune system chemicals known as cytokines which can increase the chances of developing heart disease and diabetes(Horesh Bergquist, 2015) . 

So to lose weight it is recommended that you engage in relaxation activities such as yoga, meditation, massage, gentle walks or anything else which you know will relax you or help you cope better with stressful situations.

Good health girls are offering a 6 week weight loss package post lock down package, which includes and healthy eating weight loss app/workbook and an hours massage  treatment. 180 pounds for 6 weeks so book now to reserve your place. 

You can now book a massage by filling in the contact form below or by contacting good health girls on Facebook.

References

Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., Giego, M. and Fraser, M., 2006. Lower back pain and sleep disturbance are reduced following massage therapy,. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, [online] 11(2), pp.141-145. Available at: <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1360859206000313> [Accessed 24 November 2020].

Horesh Bergquist, S., 2015. How Stress Affects Your Body – Sharon Horesh Bergquist. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-t1Z5-oPtU&ab_channel=TED-Ed> [Accessed 24 November 2020].

Kim, M. and Ahn, H., 2003. Study on the Effect of Obesity Management Program in Middle Aged Abdominal Obese Women – With Focus on Aroma Massage -. Journal of Obesity & Metabolic Syndrome, [online] 12(1), pp.PP.54-57. Available at: <http://jomes.org/journal/view.html?doi=> [Accessed 24 November 2020].

Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., Giego, M. and Fraser, M., 2006. Lower back pain and sleep disturbance are reduced following massage therapy,. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, [online] 11(2), pp.141-145. Available at: <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1360859206000313> [Accessed 24 November 2020].

Walker, M., 2018. Why We Sleep. 1st ed. London: Penguin books.

 

 

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