I’m fat because I can’t sleep?!?!

Apparently studies have been showing that there is a link between insomnia and obesity. While I was laying in bed trying to fall asleep yesterday it occurred to me that a lot of my overweight friends complain of having a hard time sleeping and so do I. A google search led me to a bevy of sites confirming the theory that insomnia leads to being overweight which in turn leads to more insomnia. It’s a vicious cycle people!

According to Natural News getting too much sleep or having irregular sleeping patterns can cause excess fat deposits in the belly area. That’s just great! I work on overnights every other week and sometimes sleep for 12-15 hours to try to catch up on sleep from my previous work week. I’m screwed! Over 75% of Americans claim they have trouble sleeping and over 61% of Americans are considered overweight. Scientists believe that obesity and insomnia are linked by hormones. Two hormones in particular, ghrelin and leptin, are the traffic signals of when and how much to eat. Ghrelin decides what time and leptin decides when enough is enough. When you are tired, ghrelin levels increase and leptin levels decrease.

Here’s another interesting article on this topic from WebMD.

For those of us who work the night shift, here’s an interesting article.