Little sleep affects your metabolism and there is a risk of obesity

"The 8 hours are still the norm in terms of sleep and have a good metabolic state", explains in an interview with EFEsalud, professor of physiology at the University of Murcia and expert in chrononutrition, the discipline that studies biological rhythms living beings and its relation to food.

To study the effects of sleep on our metabolism, Marta Garaulet's team analyzed human adipose tissue, fat, which she forms on a plate, and observed how insulin levels vary. during the day and night. Insulin is a hormone that is involved in metabolic processes and primarily in the metabolism of carbohydrates.

"A broad, uphill, downhill daily rhythm is a healthy rhythm associated with less obesity and more health, but we have observed that this rate is flattening, decreasing, booty When one sleeps little or when one goes to bed very late, "says Garaulet, who concludes," People who sleep 9 hours have a wider insulin rhythm, in better health than those who sleep less hours. ", which can affect long-term insulin, you are less likely to suffer from diabetes.

Therefore, the short sleep duration is associated with poor circadian rhythm, metabolic problems and a propensity for obesity, says the researcher.

"This conclusion was also observed in the HELENA European study of 3,200 children and adolescents, of whom 1,300 were sleeping less than 7 hours and had a higher degree of obesity," he said. .

Still in the OnTime Junior study, promoted by the University of Murcia with a sample of 432 children from the region, children's sleep is observed through clocks that measure rhythms, position, temperature and exposure to light.

"And in this case, we also find that those who sleep little are thicker," says the professor.

The cell phone, melatonin suppressor

For Marta Garaulet, light at night, when darkness must reign, is one of the factors that most affects the reduction of our sleep hours.

Electric light and the use of devices such as the computer and the mobile phone at the approach of sleep time delay our sleep center, which makes it difficult for us to reconcile and sometimes lifts us, tired, exhausted, not sleeping enough hours, or waking up during the more restful sleep phase.

"Above all, the light of the mobile affects sleep.This is a direct, narrow and white light.The mobile is a desynchronizer of our biological clock since it suppresses melatonin, also called" chemical night ", a hormone that tells our body that it's dark and that we have to sleep, "he says.

But while television does not directly affect, unless access to a show requires us to go to bed later, "the light of the mobile suppresses sleep because it removes melatonin that can sometimes delay the onset of sleep two hours. "

And this affects more children and teens because their melatonin is more sensitive to light. The expert advises not to use these devices in the period before bedtime.

Melatonin for sleeping

Melatonin is a hormone that is released in the dark and is responsible for telling our body that it is time to sleep. Over the years, some diseases and some drugs cause a decrease in levels of this hormone.

But also the electric light and life changes, more nocturnal than those of our grandparents, have delayed the arrival of darkness and therefore the secretion of melatonin, which can delay the onset of sleep and alter our circadian rhythms. .

The passage from night to day and vice versa affects our biological clock and sends a signal to the pineal gland, located in the brain, for it to produce melatonin every 24 hours, Dr. Darío Acuña told EFEsalud Castroviejo, pioneer in Spain in the region. melatonin study and director of the International Melatonin Institute (IiMEL) of the University of Granada.

The production of melatonin begins to increase as the decrease in ambient light begins and peaks between 2.00 and 4.00 in most of us. This is what is called the circadian rhythm of melatonin.

Taking medication at the melatonin concentration, on prescription, is one of the treatments for regulating sleep.

"Melatonin is primarily recommended to cause sleep, but if you are one of those who get up at dawn and can not go back to sleep, then melatonin has less of an effect," says Dr. Marta Garaulet.

According to the researcher, melatonin is effective if it takes two and a half hours after eating (as it can interfere with food) and half an hour before you start sleeping and with the light off. Some conditions that run up against the Spanish custom of eating late.

Another project in which the team of Marta Garaulet is immersed, funded by the "National Institute of Health" of the North American government and carried out by the University of Murcia, tries to determine which people are affected by the late dinner in terms of blood sugar, your metabolism, and consequently your body weight.

In this study with Harvard University researchers Richa Saxena and Frank Scheer, for whom a thousand people are recruited for a late dinner, we observe that genetics play a crucial role in the effects of dinner. late on our metabolism. said the doctor.