The worst nighttime habits that make you gain weight

Throughout life, internalizing bad nighttime habits that lead to weight gain is a common but harmful practice. They will impact according to different factors, such as frequency, intensity or age.

It is important to mention that sometimes, we are unaware of how and what we do wrong on our daily basis.

For this reason, a good education is necessary in order to acquire knowledge at an early age about what are the good and bad nighttime habits.

Insomnia, obesity or overweight are some of the many bad factors that are rarely difficult to examine and improve for their own or collective well-being.

What are the worst night habits that make you gain weight?

Categorizing which are the worst nighttime habits that make you gain weight is not an easy task, this is due to the simple fact that there are too many of them. Even so, they will be simplified into 9 dry habits when sleeping, where, surely, you do more than one daily without knowing its repercussion.

Insomnia

Insomnia is a sleep disorder that is currently increasing due to the SARS-CoV-2 virus pandemic. Not resting well slows down the metabolism, leading to not burning enough fat, but rather more fat storage.

Not sleeping as is adequate daily will produce an increase in cortisol at the cellular level, a steroid hormone related to stress. To a certain extent, it contributes to the release of glucose (blood sugar), the excess of which causes more fat to be stored.

For this reason, experts recommend sleeping an average of 6 to 9 hours without interruption, the perfect time being between 9 pm and 5 am.

Anxiety or stress

These are one of the worst habits, especially at night, for the simple fact that they will have repercussions on a personal and interpersonal level.

There is evidence that anxiety and stress are closely related to youth, specifically between 20 and 40 years of age.

Going to sleep thinking about or analyzing what you have done, or simply what you want to do, causes the release of other stress hormones. Among them are adrenaline and cortisol, playing their role explained above and preventing the body from burning fat naturally.

Obesity and overweight

Nowadays, obesity has been increasing considerably thanks to all the canned, packaged and/or prepackaged food in the markets.

This being a public health problem, it causes not only problems for the individual who suffers from it, but also for their entire daily environment.

It is necessary to mention that obesity and overweight are not the same, since obesity according to the Body Mass Index is greater than 30kg/m2. On the contrary, overweight goes from 24.9 Kg/m2 to 29.9 Kg/m2. And, although it is a lower rank, they still represent a danger to our lives.

Excess of coffee

Caffeine acts as a psychoactive drug by stimulating the central nervous system. Its main effect is to provide a greater amount of energy during the day.

Therefore, drinking coffee during the day is not serious, since it provides what is necessary for the routine, but at night it is a bad habit.

Drinking caffeine at night will cause sleeplessness by keeping the individual awake, making it impossible to sleep and altering the circadian cycle with the manifestation of insomnia.

Exercising at night

Although it sounds controversial, exercising should make you tired and thus sleep easier. However, it is a false belief, since it alters sleep and the desire to reconcile it.

Exercising after 7 pm would have an effect almost similar to the effect of caffeine on the central nervous system. In short, it would be difficult to sleep given the amount of glucose and norepinephrine circulating in the blood as derivatives of physical activity.

It is recommended to exercise at 10 am, the time of maximum cortisol activity. In turn, daily training between 30-45 minutes promotes the production of serotonin and dopamine, making you feel better about yourself.

Copious food

Overeating fatty foods after 7 pm will cause uncontrolled weight gain due to the circadian cycle.

At that time, the metabolism slows down, encouraging excess fat to be stored more easily.

For this reason, dinner should be something light, especially until 6:30 at night, in order to help process the food eaten. It is advisable to dine soda crackers, tuna sandwich, cereal with nuts or fruit salad, favoring peaceful sleep.

Food rich in sugar

Consuming sweets or food with excess sugar at night will cause an effect at the level of the nervous system.

This disproportionate injection of sweeteners will provide energy to spare and keep us awake late at night.

Use mobile or computers

Another nighttime habit that makes you gain weight is staying up late on your computer or mobile device.

They emit a radiofrequency capable of altering sleep, being necessary to avoid them 1 hour before going to sleep. In this way, the function of melatonin will not be discredited.

Meditate, reflect on the day, read a book, listen to relaxing music, are good habits that replace the use of appliances.

Alcohol

Alcohol disrupts sleep, while these drinks are loaded with calories that are harmful to maintaining a good weight. Liquors in large quantities at night also produce the release of cortisol, triggering the widely explained effects.

How to eliminate the worst night habits that make you gain weight?

Eliminating bad habits is not an easy task, especially when they are rooted in the daily routine, becoming an adverse habit for life. That is why it is transcendental to know the counterpart and counteract them in order to feel and look better.

Meditation helps a lot to control stress and anxiety, so a daily session of 10 to 15 minutes of meditation is suggested. Performing aerobic exercise of moderate to strong intensity early in the day will allow you to burn all the fat you consume during the day.

Hot drinks such as tea or warm milk will relax you before going to sleep, and thus fall asleep faster, avoiding insomnia. It is significant to mention that, above all, have willpower and discipline to eliminate these bad habits in order to lead a healthy life.

Finally, consuming more vegetables, fruits and fibers will facilitate better digestion, acceleration of cellular metabolism and thus avoid overweight and obesity.