A few days ago the presenter Pilar Rubio reappeared on television after the birth of her third child. He called attention to his thinness after giving birth just a month and a half ago and when asked what his secret was he replied that "sleep three hours a day" makes you consume.
Recent mothers may receive the message that little sleep will cause them to lose weight, but this is not the case. We will talk how lack of sleep affects our body and we anticipate that sleeping shortly after delivery does not lose weight, on the contrary, it can make you fat, in addition to other negative effects on your health.
Little sleep does not lose weight
When we become parents, our sleeping hours are greatly reduced. Contrary to what many believe, lack of sleep and physical exhaustion after giving birth do not contribute to weight loss. Lack of sleep prevents our organs from recovering from daily stress, negatively affecting our health.
“People tell me that I lose weight very fast and that if I have surgery. No, I don't have surgery, I don't sleep. Try to sleep three hours a day, you will see what happens. What do you consume”.
It is not true that little sleep helps you lose weight, Pilar. And it is not convenient for mothers to receive that message or feel pressured to have to be thin as soon as possible after delivery.
Sleeping three hours a day leaves you exhausted, but it doesn't make you lose weight. But all recent mothers would lose weight, because it is normal that during the first months of the baby the night awakenings are constant and that during the first year the parents lose many hours of sleep.
All mothers and fathers care for their babies at night, wake up to give them the bottle or breast, to comfort them if they cry or to walk them in their arms to sleep. That implies that we subtract hours of sleep and the effects feel in our body.
Little sleep can make you fat
Completely opposed to the idea that lack of sleep makes you lose weight, sleep less than five hours get fat and, as the Spanish Society of Endocrinology and Nutrition (SEE) alerts, increases the risk of being overweight or obese.
Sleep influences metabolism, increased appetite and insulin resistance, which can lead to obesity and diabetes.
An investigation carried out by scientists from the University of Glasgow, evaluated the sleep habits of more than 120 thousand participants and revealed that those who sleep too much or too little have a higher risk of obesity, particularly if they have a genetic predisposition to this disease.
Lack of sleep directly affects appetite hormones called ghrelin and leptin that have a preponderant effect on appetite rhythms. They are responsible for the sensation of hunger and stimulate our appetite. The problem is that lack of sleep increases hormone levels that make you want to eat. Instead, sleeping the recommended time, about eight hours a day, helps to properly regulate these hormones.
Other effects of lack of sleep
In addition to the risk of overweight and obesity, lack of sleep hours also has all these consequences in our body:
Increase the risk of hypertension: An American study with more than 5000 participants has revealed that lack of sleep increases cardiac risk who slept less than 6 hours each night were 20% more likely to suffer high blood pressure and obesity than those who slept between 7 and 8 hours a day.
Increase the risk of depression: The lack of rest affects our emotional responses, leading to a state of melancholy that leads us to not be able to cope normally with daily stress.
Increased risk of type 2 diabetes: The shortage of hours of sleep creates resistance in insulin, the hormone that is responsible for transporting sugar to the cells.
Increased risk of several types of cancer: Melatonin, a hormone that regulates sleep and wake cycles, can inhibit the development of tumors, and when there are sleep disturbances or exposure to light at night, the release of this hormone is reduced by increasing the chances of developing cancer .
It makes concentration difficult: affects cognitively making it harder for us to pay attention and keep our attention, remember things ...
Reduce reaction capacity: This can lead us to be less productive at work or to increase the risk of traffic accidents.
It produces mood swings: sleeping badly makes us in a worse mood and that can affect our daily lives and especially those around us, including our children.
As you can see, far from being an advantage for our body and looking great after giving birth, lack of sleep affects us negatively. There is not much we can do with a newborn baby at home, but it is important to be aware of the importance of rest for our health and sleep or rest whenever we have the opportunity to do so.
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