Sleep Your Way To Balanced Blood Sugar & Weight Loss

Wouldn’t it be amazing if sleeping was all you needed to do in order to balance your blood sugar, lose weight, reverse insulin resistance or cure diabetes and hormone imbalances?

Sleep may not look like the so-called “magic pill” that you might be looking for, but it definitely plays a major role in the body’s ability to regulate blood sugar, weight loss, inflammation and hormones.

A recent study showed how lack of adequate sleep negatively impacts the ability of fat cells to respond to insulin, one of the hormones that regulates metabolism, weight loss and is a major factor in developing diabetes.

Another recent study also found a link between short sleep duration and an increase in the progression to diabetes. This makes quality of sleep a key component in preventing or reversing insulin resistance, which also relates to risks associated with diabetes, overall weight loss and hormone balance.

We must learn to value sleep as much as we do diet and exercise.

When we are getting adequate and restful sleep, the body is able to restore and repair itself, our hormones can rebalance and nutrients can be absorbed and and converted into useful tools.

When sleep is inconsistent, disrupted or short in duration, our body is not able to fully recover.  Our circadian rhythm and cortisol balance becomes dysfunctional and a domino effect occurs in the body.

Sleeping is one of the ways in which we are able to balance cortisol, our stress hormone.  Cortisol regulates how our body uses insulin and the availability of glucose (sugar) in the body for energy.

Consider this classic textbook scenario… if you were being chased by a lion, your body would recognize this perceived stress and release cortisol as a result.  Cortisol would then act effectively to raise blood sugar levels for an abundance of energy, allowing you to think and move quickly to escape the lion!

In our modern world, our body doesn’t know the difference between a lion chasing you, crappy co-workers, an angry boss, traffic or relationship challenges.  On a physiological level, the body perceives all of this as “stress” and releases cortisol as if that lion was after you.

Back in the day when that lion was chasing you, you would have been running your butt off to escape it,in turn utilizing all of the excess glucose that was running through your bloodstream.  But now, in these modern times, we encounter stressors (such as traffic etc.) and more often than not we are sitting on our butts not exerting any kind of energy to use up that excess glucose that was release as cortisol increased in response to stress.

Cortisol prepares the body for action by moving glucose out of its storage form (glycogen) and raising glucose levels in the blood.  Insulin helps the cells to uptake glucose for energy.  Chronically elevated levels of cortisol, in response to the chronic stress in our lives, leads to chronically elevated levels of glucose and insulin. And being less active doesn’t help! As a result of this ongoing surplus, the cells stop responding to glucose and insulin’s ‘knock at the door’ (as I discussed in this recent blog).

So what does this all have to do with sleep?

As I mentioned before, getting adequate sleep is one of the ways we can recover from the stress of our day and support normal cortisol balance in the body.

In this week’s video and blog, I dive into more detail about how adequate sleep supports balanced blood sugar, weight loss, reversing insulin resistance and other hormonal imbalances.

Lack of adequate sleep can be perceived as stress by the body.

When we don’t get enough sleep, or when we sleep during the wrong times of day,  this can cause undue stress on the body.  And remember, it doesn’t matter what the stressor is, the body still reacts as if it’s being chased by a lion.

This perceived “stress” triggers the release of cortisol and therefore the cascading effects on glucose and insulin.

Chronic periods of sleep deprivation and disruption can actually flip normal cortisol level upside down or skew it way off track.  When this happens, other hormones such as thyroid, estrogen, testosterone and progesterone fall victim to the dysregulation all while leading to even more dysfunction and deeper health issues.

On top of the cortisol roller coaster ride, this study also found that poor sleep cycles negatively impact leptin and ghrelin, two hormones that control hunger and satiety.  You may have experienced this before, essentially less sleep means a bigger appetite, either because leptin and ghrelin are elevated or because you’re looking to food as a source of energy to make up for the lack of sleep.

Overconsumption of food (especially carbohydrates, even the healthy ones) can contribute to blood sugar imbalances, weight gain, digestive stress and a slew of other issues.

How to sleep your way to balanced blood sugar, weight loss and balanced, hormones…

Getting good quality sleep is partially about the amount of sleep you’re getting, but more importantly it’s about the time of day that you’re sleeping.

To sleep your way to balanced blood sugar, weight loss and better hormones, abide by these 3 rules for satisfying and restful sleep:

10pm Is Quitting Time.
Your body has an internal time clock based on the sun cycles and inherently wants to be asleep within a few hours after sunset.  Because of this internal time clock, certain restorative functions take place in the body at certain times during the night with the most critical ones running from 10pm-2am. If you’re constantly missing this window of sleep (10pm-2am) the body is not able to properly restore and repair itself, which leads to internal stress and dysfunctional cortisol levels. To support normal cortisol rhythms, being asleep- not just in bed but actually asleep- by 10pm most days of the week is best.  

Less Lights Are More.
Exposure to light after sundown tricks the body into thinking the sun is still up.  If the body thinks the sun is still up, it will continue to pump out cortisol, making it more difficult to fall asleep and keeping blood glucose levels elevated. This, in turn, can eventually contribute to insulin resistance over time.  Once the sun sets, be mindful of lowering the lights in your home, using dimmers when possible and using a rose colored nightshift setting on all of your devices.

Fatten Up For Bed.
Healthy fats help to keep your blood sugar balanced for extended periods of time, and can actually help you sleep more soundly.  If you find yourself waking up in the middle of the night, especially around 2-3am, it could be because your blood sugar levels are dropping too low and your body is releasing cortisol to bring them back up, giving you energy that wakes you up.  Try eating a fatty snack before bed to help balance your blood sugar overnight.  My favorite nighttime snacks include a little bit of coconut oil mixed with chocolate bone broth protein powder to the texture of paste placed in the freezer to solidify, or chocolate pudding made with avocado, full fat coconut milk and chocolate bone broth protein powder.

Healthy sleep habits and bedtime routines are just one critical aspect of balancing your blood sugar, achieving weight loss and having healthy hormones.

To uncover other hidden healing opportunities related to blood sugar imbalance, insulin resistance, weight gain, hormones or other health issues schedule a complimentary consultation with me here today!