Ghrelin is a powerful hormone that affects your ability to gain or lose weight.
Its significance is often overlooked. Ghrelin is the hormone that increases your feeling of hunger and therefore, increases your food intake. It is also the hormone responsible for so called "food addictions".
So, what can we learn about ghrelin to help manage our weight?
First, it is important to get a good night's sleep, usually at least seven hours. Lack of sleep increases ghrelin levels and can contribute to increased hunger and weight gain. Most people produce the greatest amounts of ghrelin during normal sleep hours since ghrelin production is tied to the body's natural circadian rhythm. So, those who work the night shift, or stay up until the late hours of the night are more likely to be overweight than their early-to-bed, early-to-rise counterparts.
In recent years, scientists have been able to produce an anti-obesity vaccine that may block ghrelin effects. The vaccine has only been used on rats and is in the early stages of testing. The idea that there could potentially be a vaccine that helps control appetite and hunger is unthinkable.
However, some people are born with altered hormones and genes that could result in abnormal ghrelin production. These people would get the best benefit from such a vaccine.
It is important to be in-touch with your body and understand the different ways it experiences hunger in order to understand why you may overeat. A good way to practice this is to allow yourself to experience twenty minutes of feeling hungry before satisfying yourself. Listen to your body and think about how you feel. See if you can decipher any differences in the feelings of hunger you have at different times of the day.
Perhaps some feelings of "hunger" aren't really true feelings of hunger at all, but instead, stemming from some emotional need. The more in-touch and mindful we become of our bodies, the healthier we can become.
