Your Body's Response to Sleep
How many of you wake up in the morning looking like the toddler to the right? Although it is very comical, this little guy's appearance is a good reflection of what is going on in your body when you wake up. Regardless of all the benefits you receive from a good night of sleep, in the end it is still 7-9 hours of no food. Hunger then leads to a slew of hormonal responses that cause irritability, fatigue, and many other unattractive qualities. But, for the relevance of this post, lets focus on energy consumption and storage. |
You see, our bodies have gotten so advanced to where they now anticipate situations, like starvation. After a full night of fasting, our bodies go into a starvation mode in preparation for more hours without food. The biggest effect is with Insulin, the hormone responsible for pulling sugar out of the blood to be consumed as energy in the cells. When in starvation mode, your insulin receptors are numbed so that the liver can store sugar as fat for later energy use.
How Breakfast Solves This Respons Although the obvious solution seems to somehow prevent this starvation mode, it isn't that easy. First, the benefits of sleep are far more superior and shouldn't be interrupted to feed your body (A topic for another post). Second, sleep and no food throughout the night has become a biological part of human development. The solution is to wake up and "break the fast", breakfast! |
Studies have shown that insulin resistance while fasting is time dependent. The longer you fast, the more resistant your insulin receptors become, causing more fat storage and less sugar consumption. It turns out that eating a breakfast around 6-9am is the ideal amount of fasting before insulin resistance is overly compromised. When you skip breakfast and don't eat anything till lunch, the resulting amount of fat storage can be dramatic. And continued insulin resistance can lead to Type II Diabetes in the future.
So eat some breakfast, even if it is just a little bit. The consumption will jumpstart proper metabolism and end the dramatic response of starvation in the body. Skipping breakfast amplifies the negative responses to fasting, leaves you feeling tired and fatigued, and predisposes you to future health problems like Type II Diabetes. "Break the Fast" and stay healthy.
So eat some breakfast, even if it is just a little bit. The consumption will jumpstart proper metabolism and end the dramatic response of starvation in the body. Skipping breakfast amplifies the negative responses to fasting, leaves you feeling tired and fatigued, and predisposes you to future health problems like Type II Diabetes. "Break the Fast" and stay healthy.