Is lack of sleep stopping my weight loss?

I never get enough sleep. My eldest daughter is 19 now so I can truthfully say that I have been tired for the best part of the last 19 years. Over the last month in particular, my workload has been crazy and I have ended up working until 1 or 2 in the morning every day. I am then up at 7am every day. I had never thought about how this could potentially damage my weight loss plans but I just read an article that has given me food for thought.

A lack of sleep will actually make you feel hungrier. There is a hormone called Leptin which sends signals to the brain to  say that you are full up and a lack of sleep reduces the production of Leptin. There is another hormone called Ghrelin which stimulates the appetite. A lack of sleep makes the body increase its production of Ghrelin. So simply by not getting enough sleep, you are putting your body in a state where you will find it incredibly difficult to keep to a healthy diet.

Another major impact of lack of sleep is how your body deals with cortisol and the levels of cortisol in your body. This can cause your body to store fat particularly around your abdomen and have a bad effect on your blood sugar levels. 

Research has shown that people who sleep less than seven hours per night are at a greatly increased risk of obesity and developing serious conditions such as diabetes.

I'm not sure how I am going to manage this but I clearly need to increase the amount of sleep that I am getting. I really had no idea that a lack of sleep could be having such a bad effect of my health. It has made me wonder if this could be one of the reasons why my weight loss has slowed down over the last month as my levels of sleep have definitely gone down in that period of time. 

It will be interesting to see if more sleep will help my weight loss. I'll keep you posted. Speak to you soon

Love Erica xxx