Is your appetite constantly high or low? Feeling out of control around food? If so, you may have an imbalanced leptin level. The good news is that you can easily reset your leptin naturally.
What is leptin?
Leptin is a hormone that helps to regulate your energy balance via your appetite. When your leptin is lower, you should use less energy and feel hungrier. When leptin is higher, you should have a lower appetite and your body can use more energy.
However, this balance has been thrown off by modern lifestyles. The loss of routine, imbalances in other hormones and high stress mean that the wrong messages are being sent by the brain. So people who don’t need more energy are hungrier and those who need to eat more have little appetite.
One of the biggest concerns is leptin resistance. This is where your leptin levels are consistently high, but your body is no longer responding to the message to eat less and reduce appetite.
What can throw off leptin balance?
Like other hormones, leptin has a complex relationship with other body processes and lifestyle factors. This includes:
Sleep – poor sleep can reduce leptin, but it is also involved indirectly with leptin resistance (high leptin). Sleep-related leptin imbalance is often a problem for shift workers thanks to the interference with the body’s natural rhythms.
Fasting – short-term fasting can decrease leptin, but only if stress, sleep and other hormones are well-balanced
Oestrogen – high oestrogen can interfere with leptin levels and contribute to resistance
Insulin – if you have leptin resistance, you are likely to also have insulin resistance. Insulin resistance contributes to inflammation and fat storage around the belly. When both are off-balance, it makes it nearly impossible to lose weight!
Stress – high stress and chronic stress can inflame the brain and interfere with messages. This can lead to chronically low leptin in some and leptin resistance in others.
Excess adipose tissue & obesity – although this should theoretically lead to lower leptin to maintain the energy balance, it actually contributes to leptin resistance.
Calorie restriction – this is often where resistance first starts. When you withhold food, particularly fat and protein, the body can enter starvation mode and override the leptin feedback loop.
As you can see, there are a lot of common issues that can interfere with your leptin balance! Whether you tend towards high or low levels, taking steps to reset your leptin can make a big difference to your wellbeing.
Signs you need to reset your leptin balance
So how do you know if you have an issue with leptin? There are some key symptoms to watch out for when it comes to leptin imbalances:
- Waking for midnight snacks – leptin should be high between midnight and the morning, so if you’re waking late at night needing to eat, your leptin is off-kilter
- Feeling unsatisfied after eating – this is common with resistance
- Food cravings after a meal – particularly the desire for something sweet
- Persistent snacking/grazing
- Needing larger potions to feel satisfied
- Blood sugar regulation issues
- Holding onto body fat and struggling to lose weight – this is a big red flag of resistance
- Feeling constantly fatigued
- Lack of motivation to exercise
6 steps to reset your leptin
Concerned about your leptin balance? If you have a known issue that could contribute such as insulin resistance or metabolic syndrome, you can test to see if your levels are out of range. But in the meantime, you can use some simple strategies to reset your leptin.
Eat 3 meals a day
It sounds simple, but this is a great way to reset your leptin. If you have high cortisol, sleep issues or other contributing factors, it brings leptin back into line without triggering further imbalances.
Fasting is often recommended for leptin issues, but it should only ever be utilised if all other hormones are normal (which is rare!)
Stop grazing
Grazing is a common habit for people with leptin issues. Instead, structure your snacks into the day. Stick to 1-2 snacks if you need them.
Start the day with savoury
Many people kickstart their day with high-carb and high-sugar foods – whether it’s cereal, pastries, sugary coffees or a piece of fruit. This initiates the blood sugar response that increases leptin, adding to the resistance picture.
Begin your day with a protein-rich savoury option instead to keep you balanced throughout the day.
Time your exercise
Exercise can help to reduce excess leptin, but only in the right circumstances. For example, if you do intense exercise while fasting and stressed first thing in the morning, it can spike your cortisol further and trigger more leptin resistance.
Stick to gentle movement in the morning. If you want to do more intense physical activity, do it later in the day when you’re properly fueled and your cortisol is naturally lower.
Maintain a routine
Your body’s circadian rhythm helps to regulate your leptin. But if your routines around sleep, waking, working, exercising, eating and so on are all over the place? Your leptin levels will follow.
A routine doesn’t mean it has to be the same down to the minute every day. But at the very least, try to:
- Wake at a similar time
- Go to bed at a similar time
- Eat meals at a similar time
This not only helps to reset your leptin, but also regulates your melatonin, cortisol and oestrogen. So it’s a must for overall hormone balance as well!
People who have sleep issues and insomnia are more prone to leptin issues. So if that’s the case for you, make it a priority to get your sleep addressed ASAP.
Get some daylight
Even if you can’t get direct sunlight or daylight, exposure is a must for supporting your circadian rhythm. When you wake up, open your curtains and ideally go outside for a few minutes. This gives your body the signal that the day is beginning.
You can do the same at night-time – spend a few minutes outside in the dark. Whenever possible, do this with your lights in the house as well – switch them on in the morning, and stick to lamps and candles in the evenings.
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