The link between sleep and weight loss: Things you need to know

If you're trying to lose weight and the scale isn't working, review your sleep habits.

Sleep is something we all need, but it is often neglected. Getting less than the recommended amount of sleep each night may increase your risk of certain health conditions, including obesity. Sleep is an important factor in weight loss. Sleep deprivation can lead to overeating and as a result, weight gain. Lack of sleep causes you to be hungrier and cause you to eat more food than usual. When we are not sleeping well, our metabolism slows down and we tend to feel sluggish throughout the day. This leads us to crave for comfort foods like sweets or fast food which will make us gain weight easily.

That's true:

Lack of sleep has a big impact on your weight. While you weren't sleeping, your body was cooking up the perfect recipe for weight gain.

When you're sleep-deprived, it's easy to lean back on your tall latte and get moving. You might be tempted to skip your workout (too tired), grab some takeout, and be uncomfortably full and late.

 Eating fewer calories is often the first step in losing weight if weight loss is your goal.

 But when your appetite hormones (ghrelin and leptin) go out of whack, you may consume more food than your body needs.

 Ghrelin increases appetite by signaling hunger to the brain, encouraging you to eat. Leptin does the opposite by suppressing hunger and signaling satiety in the brain.

 When you don't get enough sleep, your body responds by increasing ghrelin and decreasing leptin. This can lead to overeating. Lack of sleep causes depression, which causes overeating which in turn causes Weight gain.

Sleep is like nourishment for the brain. Most people need  7-9 hours of sleep a night. Too little sleep triggers a cortisol spike. This stress hormone signals the body to store energy during waking hours. Exercise is an important factor if your goal is to lose weight as well as stay fit. But not getting enough sleep can leave you with no energy to exercise. Although research on sleep deprivation and energy expenditure is lacking, drowsiness and fatigue tend to promote sedentary behavior. This can lead to decreased movement and physical activity.

Diet and exercise are only one piece of the weight loss puzzle. Getting enough, quality sleep each night can also affect the numbers on your scale.

 Establishing healthy sleep habits, such as sticking to a sleep schedule, avoiding caffeine before bed, and reducing stress, can help you lose and maintain weight.