Ghrelin and Sleep Deprivation

Generally I recommend 7-8 hours sleep per/night. Pretty tough to get this amount these days right? Well if the incentive to sleep is not great enough consider this; Your appetite is effected by the number hours you sleep per night. Researchers have found that those people who are sleep deprived produce more Ghrelin (an appetite hormone) and less Leptin (appetite suppressant hormone). This is an interesting adaptation but may explain some of the association of sleep deprivation and weight management concerns. Also your body produces Growth Hormone during sleep which could play a role in preserving lean muscle mass. The benefits of good sleep habits are plentiful and a topic for another post. Research shows us there is not much more benefit for sleeping more then 7-8 hours a night. My opinion is that sleep is sacred, but understandable how many of us fore go rest for activity. It is worth experimenting on yourself to see how better you feel after a week of 7-8 hours per night and if you're actually more active (and productive) during the day on this amount of sleep. Let me know what happens.