Is sleep really that important?
Nighttime.
Get into bed.
Check your phone for just a little bit.
Before you know it,
it's midnight.
1:00 AM.
"I need to go to sleep early."
While thinking that,
you watch just one more video.
Then, the next morning.
Turn off the alarm.
Your body feels heavy.
You don't feel like exercising.
Before noon,
you start craving sweets.
When you walk into a convenience store,
the fried chicken,
the sweet bread,
and the desserts all look more appealing than usual.
It feels like the lighting in the snack aisle has been turned up by 20 percent (lol).
And you think,
"I couldn't resist again."
"I have no willpower."
I was the same way.
Every time my appetite went haywire on a day I was sleep-deprived,
I thought I just lacked grit.
But,
let me give you the conclusion first.
A day when you couldn't sleep is not a day when you have weak willpower.Today, your body might just be in a state where it's easier to crave food than usual,
and easier to feel like moving is a hassle.
So what you need is,
not to blame yourself.
It's to make your plan for the day a little lighter.
Sleep is not a magic trick that makes you lose weight just by sleeping
"Sleep is important."
When you hear that,
you might feel like if you just sleep a lot,
the fat will disappear on its own.
But,
of course, it's not that kind of magic.
Just by sleeping,
the ramen you ate yesterday won't vanish.
It's not like,
while you're in bed, only the fat is working overtime (lol).
Body weight,
is determined by your meals over a day or a week.
Your activity level.
Your lifestyle habits.
It changes through the accumulation of those things.
Therefore,
you can't say,
if you just fix your sleep, you'll lose weight.
However,
sleep is the foundation of dieting.
On days when you've slept well,
it's a little easier to move from the morning.
You have the capacity to choose your meals.
It's easier to start exercising.
Even if you crave sweets,
it's easier to think it over once.
Conversely,
on days when you're sleep-deprived,
both your body and mind are tired.
In that state,
meals,
exercise,
work,
chores,
if you try to do everything as usual,
the difficulty level goes up.
Sleep is,
not a finishing move to burn fat.
It's recovery time that makes it easier to continue your usual actions.
I think that kind of positioning,
is the most accurate.
Why do you want to eat when you're sleep-deprived?
In studies on sleep deprivation and appetite,
it has been reported that when you shorten your sleep time,
there is a tendency to eat more,
or to feel hunger more strongly.
Sweets.
Greasy foods.
Snacks.
Late-night meals.
There are studies where these things increased.
What often comes up here,
is the talk of hormones related to hunger and satiety,
called ghrelin and leptin.
"When you're sleep-deprived,
hunger hormones increase,
and satiety hormones decrease."
You might have seen an explanation like that.
However,
actual research results,
are not that neatly aligned.
There are studies where hormones changed,
and studies where they didn't change much.
Therefore,
it's difficult to explain appetite from sleep deprivation,
solely with hormones.
Let's think about it in more everyday terms.
Your sleep time is short.
Then,
the time you are awake becomes longer.
The time you can eat also increases.
If you stay up until the middle of the night,
the opportunities to open the refrigerator also increase.
Because you're tired,
you don't want to cook.
You become more likely to choose things,
that you can eat immediately and that are very satisfying.
Your judgment also drops due to sleepiness,
and you're more likely to think,
"I guess it's fine for today."
In other words,
the reason you want to eat on days you're sleep-deprived,
doesn't happen just because of weak willpower.
Your body's condition.
The time you're awake.
The environment where there is food.
Fatigue.
Various conditions are overlapping.
Therefore,
when you see yourself craving sweets,
you don't have to immediately judge yourself as a failure.
Today might just be a day where you're more likely to crave food because you're sleep-deprived.
Just realizing that,
makes it easier to change your next action.
How much does your food intake increase when you're sleep-deprived?
When summarizing experiments where sleep was shortened,
there are reports that intake increased by several hundred kilocalories per day.
But,
"When you're sleep-deprived,
this amount always increases every day."
That's not the case.
Not everyone reacts the same way.
Even when sleep-deprived,
there are people whose appetite doesn't change much.
There are people whose amount doesn't increase,
but whose late-night snacking increases.
There are people who reach for sweet drinks.
There are people who can't eat during the day,
and eat everything at night.
What's important is,
not to be scared by looking at the numbers.
What we know from research is,
it's not unusual for your appetite to be disrupted on days you're sleep-deprived.That is.
Therefore,
"I couldn't sleep much yesterday."
"I want to eat more than usual today."
Even if those two things overlap,
you don't have to blame yourself.
Just,
you just need to make a slightly better plan than usual.
If you increase your sleep, will you lose weight?
In studies that supported people who usually have short sleep times,
to be able to sleep a little longer,
there are results where the amount they ate decreased naturally.
This is,
very interesting when thinking about the value of fixing your sleep.
However,
you can't say,
"If you sleep one hour longer,
you will definitely lose X kilograms."
Even if you increase your sleep time,
there are people whose meals and activity levels don't change.
Due to work or childcare,
there are people who can't increase their time in the first place.
Therefore,
you don't have to make sleep a new quota.
"I have to sleep 7 hours."
"Yesterday was 6 hours, so I failed."
Like that,
if you make even sleep a material for grading,
it will become painful again.
The purpose of fixing your sleep,
is not to get a perfect score on a sleep time test.
It's to help yourself the next day a little bit.This is enough.
How many hours should you sleep?
For many adults,
sleeping 7 hours or more regularly,
is considered one guideline.
However,
7 hours is not a law,
nor is it a passing line.
For the necessary sleep time,
there are individual differences.
There are people who can move energetically during the day,
even with 6 and a half hours.
There are people who,
even if they sleep 8 hours,
wake up many times in the middle,
and still feel tired.
What you should look at,
is not just the time.
In the morning,
can you wake up to some extent?
During the day,
does strong sleepiness not persist?
Does it not interfere with work or chores?
On holidays,
are you not in a state where you can't move unless you sleep until noon?
You look at these things together as well.
Therefore,
you can use 7 hours as a guideline first.
But,
don't blame yourself for not reaching it.
Go to bed 15 minutes earlier than now.
Reduce the number of times you wake up in the middle of the night.
Align your wake-up time.
A form that suits you,
you should just look for it little by little.
Is sleeping in on holidays bad?
Sleep-deprived on weekdays.
Sleep until noon on holidays.
I think many people have experienced this.
I,
when it becomes a holiday, I almost sign a long-term contract with my futon (lol).
By sleeping a little longer on holidays,
there are times when sleepiness and fatigue become lighter.
Therefore,
sleeping in is all bad.
You don't have to blame yourself like that.
However,
5 hours on weekdays.
12 hours on holidays.
If such a large difference continues,
your body's rhythm shifts,
and there are times when Monday morning becomes even more painful.
Just on holidays,
it's difficult to cancel out all the shortages of the weekdays.
If possible,
your weekday sleep,
15 minutes.
30 minutes.
Increase it little by little.
On holidays too,
don't shift your wake-up time too extremely.
You don't need to align it perfectly.
You just need to look for a form that doesn't swing too widely.
Is using your phone before bed really bad?
Before bed.
Check your phone for just a little bit.
Really just a little bit.
I thought that,
but before I knew it, I was watching many videos.
After getting into bed,
"Just one more."
This,
is quite untrustworthy (lol).
The reason why smartphones affect sleep,
is not just blue light.
First,
your bedtime is delayed by just the time you spend watching.
SNS, games,
and work contacts wake up your brain.
A notification comes,
and you wake up in the middle of the night.
Light can also affect your internal clock.
In other words,
if you use night mode,
it's okay to watch for hours.
That's not true.
The smartphone side of the screen is reflecting,
but the human side is still awake (lol).
But,
don't bring your smartphone into the bedroom starting today.
You don't have to make such an extreme rule.
First,
close it 15 minutes earlier than usual.
Turn off auto-play.
Stop notifications.
The charging location,
move it a little away from the bed.
Make the screen darker.
One is enough.
Instead of quitting smartphones completely,
create a distance that doesn't steal too much sleep.
That much is easy to continue.
What about caffeine and alcohol?
Days when you're sleep-deprived.
Sleepy.
Drink coffee.
Sleepy again.
Drink another cup.
Drink in the evening too.
And at night,
can't sleep.
Next morning,
coffee again.
It's a magnificent relay race (lol).
Caffeine,
helps to suppress sleepiness.
There are times when it supports work or exercise.
But,
depending on the amount and time you drink it,
it disturbs your sleep at night.
Especially,
for people who feel they can't sleep due to caffeine in the evening,
the last cup,
try moving it 1-2 hours earlier than now.
You don't have to quit everything.
Adjust while watching your own reaction.
Alcohol is the same.
There are people who get sleepy when they drink.
But,
there is a possibility that you will wake up in the middle of the night,
or the latter half of your sleep will become shallow.
A nightcap,
sends you to the entrance of sleep.
But,
it's like a friend who goes home on their own in the middle of the night.
If alcohol for sleeping,
has become a daily habit,
don't carry it alone,
it's okay to consult a medical institution.
To those working night shifts or raising children
Articles about sleep,
inevitably tend to be idealistic.
Go to bed at 11 PM.
Wake up at 7 AM.
Don't look at your phone before bed.
But,
night shifts.
Shift work.
Crying at night.
Nursing care.
Insomnia.
In such a life,
it doesn't go as ideally.
Therefore,
you don't have to fight with the same rules as day-type people.
If you are a night shift worker,
not the general night,
protect your own main sleep time.
After returning home,
make the bedroom dark.
In the latter half of your shift,
don't take too much caffeine.
Don't endure hunger to the limit,
and don't overeat after returning home.
If you are raising children,
don't seek perfect continuous sleep.
If possible,
share the rest with your family.
Make your goals for cooking or exercise smaller.
To people who are tired from lack of sleep,
"Please try harder to sleep."
Even if you say that,
sleep will just become a new homework assignment.
Without denying your current life,
fix one part that you can.
That is fine.
The "5-step Poyo-Graduation" for days when you're sleep-deprived
So, what should you do on days when you haven't slept well?
You don't need to do anything difficult.
I just want you to remember these five things.
1. Don't let your appetite become your weakness
You want something sweet.You want to eat a large amount.
When that happens, think,
"Today might be affected by my lack of sleep."
You don't have to judge yourself for wanting to eat right away.
2. Don't skip meals entirely
Because you're afraid of your appetite due to lack of sleep, you skip breakfast and lunch.
This can lead to intense hunger in the evening or at night.For those who don't usually eat breakfast, I'm not saying you have to force yourself.Just don't drastically disrupt your usual meal rhythm as a form of punishment.
3. Choose simple meals
On days when you're sleep-deprived, you don't have to cook a perfect meal.
A rice ball and an egg.
Bread and yogurt.
Rice and natto.
Add a soup to a convenience store bento.
It's enough if you can add a little protein or vegetables.
4. Switch to a scaled-down version of exercise
You planned to do strength training.
But your body feels heavy.
On days like that, lower the weight.
Reduce the number of exercises.
Walk for 10 minutes.
Just do some stretching.
Take a complete rest.
You can choose any of these.
A day of sleep deprivation is not a day to break records.
It's a day to protect your body.5. Adjust tonight a little
You don't have to try to make up for yesterday's lack of sleep in just one day.
Avoid long naps in the evening.
Cut off caffeine early.
Don't solve it with a nightcap.
Put your smartphone away 15 minutes earlier.
Make tonight just a little easier to sleep in.
That's all you need to do.
When you can't sleep for a long time, you don't have to push through with sheer willpower
You couldn't sleep one night.
You've been busy for a few days.
In that case, you can just adjust things in your daily life.
However, if the inability to sleep continues for a long time,
you can't sleep many times a week,
it interferes with your daytime life,
you have loud snoring,
your breathing stops,
you have morning headaches,
you feel sleepy while driving,
or your alcohol intake to help you sleep is increasing,
then you don't have to handle it alone with just general sleep articles.
For chronic insomnia, there is a method called cognitive behavioral therapy that has been proven effective.
It is okay to consult a doctor or a sleep specialist.
Not being able to sleep doesn't necessarily mean you aren't trying hard enough.
It's okay to ask for help.
One step you can take starting today
After reading this article, you don't need to start 10 sleep improvements.
If you're going to do something today, just do one thing.
Put your smartphone away 15 minutes earlier.
Have your last coffee a little earlier.
Decide on a scaled-down version of exercise for days when you're sleep-deprived.
Prepare tomorrow's breakfast simply.
Any one of these is fine.
You don't have to aim for 100% perfection when it comes to sleep.
Days when you couldn't sleep early.
Days when you woke up in the middle of the night.
Days when you were woken up by your children.
Days when you worked the night shift.
Those days happen.
Just because you didn't sleep one night doesn't mean your diet is over.
Even if your appetite is strong, you can just adjust from the next meal.
Even if you couldn't exercise, you can just get back to it the next day.
A day when you couldn't sleep is not a day when your willpower is weak.
It's a day to switch to a gentler strategy that suits your body.
It doesn't have to be perfect.
Tonight, you can just get back on track a little bit.
Let's graduate from 'poyo' (flabbiness) together! 💪
—
📖 Today's Poyo-Graduation Quote
A day when you couldn't sleep is not a day when your willpower is weak. It's a day to lighten your strategy.
—
📚 Poyo-Graduation Bro Series
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"Is eating due to stress because of weak willpower?"
Something unpleasant happened at work.
Tired from housework or childcare.
Feeling uneasy about relationships.
Before you know it, you're eating sweets, potato chips, or drinking alcohol.
After eating, you feel down, thinking, "I couldn't resist again."
Next time, based on the latest research, I will explain in a way that is easy for beginners to understand how to deal with "stress and eating," including stress-induced appetite and emotional eating, why eating makes you feel a little better, and how to get back on track when you couldn't stop.