Diet, exercise, and even stress have all been linked to affecting our weight. However, what about the role sleep plays in maintaining a healthy weight? You don't usually think about sleep and how it can impact your body weight. Most people associate sleep with nothing but rest and how it affects your energy levels, but it actually has an impact on your body and even your weight.

What happens to our bodies when we sleep?

You’ve probably experienced some magical dreams and crazy adventures while sleeping. When your body is in this state it’s actually doing a lot more than just dreaming. Your body slows down during this time and puts itself into a state of recovery. This allows your body to perform at its best physically the next day. Many things take place when we begin our slumber. From the slowing down of our heart rate and breath to the regulation of many hormones crucial for our health.

These hormones include:

1. Growth hormone. This hormone has a direct impact on your muscle growth. This could lead to a higher metabolism and in return weight loss. Experts say with an increase in muscle mass you burn calories faster and easier.
2. Leptin and ghrelin. Leptin has been shown to regulate metabolism and ghrelin affects our food intake and appetite. It also promotes fat storage and stimulates the release of growth hormone.
3. Cortisol. The body's stress hormone cortisol could promote what's known as “stress eating”. Increasing your appetite and causing cravings for fat, sweet and salty foods.

Does sleep affect our weight?

Researchers have been trying to get to the bottom of whether sleep affects our weight for some time now. It’s clear that our body needs sleep to regulate certain hormones and to recover and grow. This means that conditions that affect our sleep could have an impact on our body weight.

For instance, does sleep apnea cause weight gain? A condition like this has a direct impact on sleep quality, but how does sleep apnea cause weight gain directly? It wouldn’t necessarily be sleep apnea itself that causes weight gain. However, the lack of sleep caused by this condition could contribute to factors that do cause weight gain such as hormonal balances.

How can we improve our sleep?

If you do struggle with sleep, how can you improve it? It's clear sleep apnea and weight loss don't go hand in hand. Any condition or habits that affect our sleep in a bad way have the potential to not only affect our nightly recovery, but also our hormonal balances. In return leading to potential weight gain.

A few ways you can improve your sleep include:

• Exercising
• Keeping a consistent sleep schedule
• Avoid napping or limit it to early in the day
• Create a pre-sleep routine by doing relaxing activities before bed
• Avoid caffeine and other stimulants that interfere with sleep 4 to 6 hours before bedtime

Getting a consistent good night's sleep could be the very thing you need to not only feel more energized but also help yourself maintain healthy body weight. If you struggle with sleep, and you’re looking for a solution check out BetterSleep. You’ll find all sorts of resources that will help you sleep like a baby and finally get the rest and recovery you deserve.