In this week’s IF Insider:
In this issue, we answer a question brought up by one of the participants in our Fast Factor IF Coaches Certification Program: “Can losing sleep really cause people to gain weight and if so, how does that work?”
And as always, we will bring you the news on what we’re currently reading or watching. For our premium subscribers, in this issue’s Research Spotlight we are going to look at yet another positive article summarizing research on intermittent fasting in the treatment of Type 2 diabetics.
Plus our paid subscribers also get one of Ellen’s recipes each month and access to a live Q&A call. If you are a paid subscriber, last month we brought you Ellen’s tasty Golden Fried Rice, which is easy to make and a family favorite. This month, we’re sharing Ellen’s awesome Mushroom Powder Antioxidant Bombs! 🍄
The paid option also includes a monthly live Q&A call with Ellen and Denise held on the second Tuesday of each month at 12 Noon Eastern (9 AM Pacific) time. The next call is on Tuesday, February 9, 2021.
Looking for a supportive group that “gets” your interest in IF? Our free intermittent fasting Facebook group, with nearly 1800 members, is a wealth of info, in addition to our Fast Factor Circle membership. Just click the link here to become a member of our exclusive Fast Factor Circle Community. We would love to have you join us!
What is the IF Insider?
This email is your briefing on the most compelling developments in intermittent fasting as well as innovation in practices that can be stacked with IF, such as plant-based eating, sleep hacks, natural nootropics, brain training, and more, all curated by our team of entrepreneurs and 'future-think' scouts.
Our Mission is to introduce the power of Intermittent Fasting to entrepreneurs worldwide so they can exponentially improve their lives and businesses and the lives of the people they impact every day.
P.S. Please send your tips to our team by clicking here, and send your friends and colleagues to this link to subscribe to IF Insider.
P.P.S. Get our free Fast Factor Primer: The Entrepreneur's Quick Start Guide to Intermittent Fasting by clicking here.
Is It True Losing Sleep Can Cause You To Gain Weight?
In our last IF Insider (IF Insider No. 22) we looked at the question: “Is it OK to open and close my fasting window at different times of the day?” In each and every issue we cover one specific intermittent fasting topic as well as highlight what we are reading, watching, and studying.
So let’s address today’s question:
“Is it true that losing sleep can cause you to gain weight? And if so, how does this work?”
This question was asked by one of the participants in our Fast Factor IF Coaching Certification Program, as we are going over areas that are important for them to address with their clients who may be “stuck” on a weight loss plateau or who are just not getting the results they want.
The short answer to this question is yes, losing sleep can cause you to gain weight. If you are practicing intermittent fasting to lose weight, as so many people do, losing sleep can stop your progress in your tracks. Let’s take a closer look at why this is so.
When you experience the feeling of hunger, you are doing so mainly because of a hormone that is produced by specialized cells, primarily found in the lining of your stomach, but which are also present in the small intestine, pancreas, and even your brain.
This hormone is ghrelin and is known as the “hunger hormone,” even though it has functions that go well beyond the regulation of hunger such as the regulation of glucose levels, a role in bone formation and may even have implications for cancer treatment.
When you feel full, or satiated, you are under the influence of yet another hormone known as leptin, which is produced by your body’s fat cells. The more fat cells you have, the more leptin you produce and is a way for the body to tell your brain how much fat you are carrying.
Both ghrelin and leptin send signals to a part of your brain known as the hypothalamus. Ghrelin sends the “I’m hungry” signal and “leptin,” the satiety hormone, signals, “I’m full.”
When you lose sleep, levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin go up and levels of the satiety hormone leptin go down. This is why, when you lose a night or two of sleep, that you just can’t seem to stop eating. Plus, the brains of sleep-deprived people release endocannabinoids, which promote eating for pleasure.
Research has shown that when study participants were deprived of adequate sleep for just five days, they consumed many more calories in the form of carbohydrates and gained two full pounds during that time.
This tendency to gain weight when sleep-deprived explains why it’s so easy for shift workers, new parents, and sleep-deprived college students to rapidly gain weight. On average, people who are sleep deprived eat 300 more calories a day than usual. They also make poorer food choices and don’t exercise as much as people who get adequate sleep.
But increased appetite as a result of hormones gone haywire is not entirely to blame. In one study, a single night of partial sleep deprivation induced insulin resistance in the participants, meaning their cells were “resistant” to the effects of insulin and cannot easily take up glucose from your blood. Insulin resistance is strongly linked to prediabetes and the development of Type 2 diabetes if the condition is not reversed.
So how can you use this information?
The easy answer is to get adequate sleep, seven to nine hours a night for most healthy adults. But many people are so sleep deprived they don’t know how much sleep they need.
Eve Van Cauter, director of the Sleep, Metabolism and Health Center at the University of Chicago, who has researched sleep and health for 15 years, recommends doing this:
Wait until you are on vacation or otherwise do not need to use an alarm to get up at a particular time. Go to bed at your usual time and awaken naturally, without using an alarm. For the first few days, you will likely sleep more than you usually would, as you are paying off your sleep debt.
After that, your sleep will stabilize. Then record how many hours you sleep (plus or minus 15 minutes) after your sleep debt is paid off and still without using an alarm. This is how much you need to sleep each night.
Keep in mind that we haven’t even touched upon the subject of chronotypes, which determines whether you are an early riser (a lark) or work late into the evening (night owls.) Sleep expert and psychologist Michael Breus has written a fascinating book on this topic, The Power of When: Discover Your Chronotype, and has his own nomenclature for individuals: Lion, Bear, Wolf, and Dolphin. I am a “night owl” and his description of people who exhibit the Wolf chronotype who use the night to fuel their creativity is spot on for me.
Sweet dreams!
Why It Matters
While the importance of quality sleep is just beginning to become accepted in our 24-7, always-on, pedal-to-the-metal culture, sleep is still looked upon as a luxury instead of the necessity that it is.
Adequate sleep has a profound effect on health and well-being, including cognitive health, and should be a priority in your life.
“Without enough sleep, we all become tall two-year-olds.”
~ JoJo Jensen, Dirt Farmer Wisdom, 2002
What We Are Reading 📚
With each issue, we both bring you a short blurb on what we are currently reading or watching, including books, articles, podcasts, videos, movies, and research papers of value.
Denise - Genius Foods: Become Smarter, Happier, and More Productive While Protecting Your Brain for Life by Max Lugavere. I realize it’s a lifetime journey to keep one’s brain healthy and performing at its peak which means I’m constantly on the lookout for ways to stay tuned up.
In addition to regular exercise - walking and hiking for me - and daily meditation, eating well is something that seems possible to integrate with the IF lifestyle. There’s a lot of common sense in this book…stay away from trans fats and highly processed foods, and following the Mediterranean diet is a good way to go. Nothing earth-shattering, yet good reminders none the less.
Ellen - The Art of Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer by Steven Kotler. New York Times best-selling author, award-winning journalist, and executive director of the Flow Research Collective, Steven Kotler has done it again.
Known for his wildly popular deep-dive books including Stealing Fire, The Rise of Superman, Bold, and Abundance (both of the latter co-authored with X-Prize founder Peter Diamandis), with The Art of Impossible the author has distilled twenty years of research in neuroscience and psychology into a practical playbook on how to achieve the impossible.
He addresses the “Big I” impossible feats of people such as elite athletes and other “superhumans” but he also breaks down, step by step, just what it takes for the rest of us normal human beings to achieve what he calls “Little i” impossible, the thing you think is impossible for you to do.
At the heart of this playbook is the concept of flow, that state of mind where everything comes together and ideas, creativity, and genius flow effortlessly from our lives.
But flow comes later, as it’s not the first step. You’ve got to develop and stack your drivers in a certain order first or you will never get there. There is a quartet of skills at the heart of this book:
Motivation - is what gets you into the game
Learning - is what helps you continue to play
Creativity - is how you steer
Flow - is how you boost your results “beyond all rational standards and reasonable expectation.”
I was so taken with this book that I took over 30 pages (yes, 30!) of notes. You had better believe I’m already at work implementing his process in my life.
Plus, once you’ve finished with the book, be sure to check out the Flow Research Collective’s Podcast on either Spotify or iTunes for additional insights and deep-dive interviews with fascinating guests.
Want Even More Conversations Like This?
As a Fast Factor Circle member, you get exclusive member-only content not available in the public IF Insider newsletter with in-depth monthly instructional workshops on topics ranging from nootropics to how to use traditional Japanese matcha to increase focus and productivity, three opportunities a month to meet via a live Zoom call with Ellen and Denise and other community members to get your questions answered, three nutritionally dense plant-based recipes and instructions a month, plus a private member’s only group for discussion and networking.
All Circle members get priority notification and first chance to secure a place at our annual Inner Fire Experience at beautiful Serenbe Farms and Inn here south of Atlanta, Georgia. This will take place as soon as it’s safe to travel, hopefully in the spring of 2022.
Simply click here for more information and to become a member. Membership is just $47 a month with no ongoing commitment. Why not give us a try as we’d love to have you join us?
Our Mission: We bring together entrepreneurs to learn how to combine the extraordinary power of intermittent fasting with research-based practices both ancient and modern so that as we support, encourage and inspire one another, we can each expand our focus, confidence and productivity as well as exponentially increase our well being, and through us, the well being of our families, friends, colleagues, and communities.
###
Know someone who would benefit from getting access to the IF Factor Insider?