DALLAS, Texas (NBC) -- They come to the Downtown Y in Fort Worth to get fit, yet even the best bods admit they're off-balance in one key area.
"Don't have much time to sleep," one gym-goer said.
"If you're not getting enough sleep, it affects your mood, it affects your ability to function day to day," June Captain, the YMCA Wellness Director, said.
"I know if I'm running on very little sleep, I eat stuff I shouldn't eat. I want more sugar," Anne Allen, a YMCA Member, said.
Too much of that and sure, weight gain.
But there's another link between sleep and weight - a hormonal connection.
"In a state of sleep deprivation, your body will produce more ghrelin - telling your body, 'I'm hungrier, please feed me.' And it will produce less leptin saying I'm satisfied you can stop. Thus, people eat more and crave more over the course of the day because the sleep deprivation is causing those hormones to be out of whack," Amy Goodson, a Registered Dietitian, said.
And those out of whack hormones just may set the stage for weight gain.
"And those hormones can dictate hunger levels, and fullness levels over the course of a day. Which can cause you to possibly take in more or less food," Goodson said.
After you've lost some weight and you're down to the those final five or 10 pounds, one of those hormones connected to sleep can actually creep back in and almost sabotage the body.
"Your body's response is wait, we used to weigh this, that's our normal - whether that's good or bad - and your body will produce more ghrelin to send hunger cues to your body to say I'm hungry," Goodson said.
"The body is a machine. The body will adapt but it takes a week or two before the body adapts and those hormones balance out again," Captain said.
There's no solid proof people can lose weight while they sleep; the tried and true routine for weight loss is to burn more calories than consumed.
Still, a good night's sleep makes the day a little easier.
