Yes, Jennifer, you are 100% right: Having a good night sleep has a major impact on weight and on someone’s ability to stick with a healthy eating plan. It sounds like one of the easiest recommendations to put into effect, “Sleep more and you will lose more weight.” But we all know it’s not always that easy, so putting some real thought into your sleep hygiene may be required to put this into effect.

If someone is not getting enough sleep, or a good quality of sleep, a number of things may occur that impact their ability to lose weight:

1. There are hormones that are thrown off by a lack of sleep, including Leptin and Ghrelin, and these are hormones that are important to help with satiety and fullness ques.
2. Often people reach for food during the day when they feel tired, thinking they need this food to give them fast energy in the moment, but they are just adding extra calories to their day.
3. When you are exhausted it’s a lot harder to muster up the energy to get to the gym or go out for a walk, or do anything that requires any extra effort for that matter.
4. If you are staying up too late at night, it creates the opportunity for extra snacking at night. If you are sleeping you cannot be eating!
5. If you wake up often during the night (not because you have to use the restroom, but if you feel you are startled out of your sleep), or if your spouse tells you that you snore, or if you feel tired the next day even if you have had enough hours of sleep, there is a chance you may have sleep apnea. Untreated sleep apnea makes it harder to lose weight. Ask your doctor if you may have sleep apnea if you think you have any of these symptoms.

I think it’s a great idea for everyone to put some thought into their sleeping patterns, and see if going to bed just a little bit earlier and taking the steps to achieve a good quality of sleep, may help you to feel better and keep the scale moving in the right direction.