Many people don't realize that a lack of sleep can have a detrimental effect on your weight.

When you are constantly over tired your energy levels are naturally lacking and the first thing that most people do to boost their energy levels is to eat more food.

Naturally eating more food is going to cause you to increase weight and the digestion of the food will burn up even more energy so you get into a vicious circle of tiredness eating and more tiredness.

The constant tiredness also affects the way that your body functions where it becomes less efficient and in doing so you will tend to store more fat and gain weight.

Simply getting a bit more sleep at regular times at night can boost your energy levels and in doing so reduce your dependence upon food for energy and help you to lose weight without having to go on any diets.

If there are no alternatives to your lack of sleep due to circumstances in your life then you need to concentrate on increasing your intake of water as this will help you to get more energy and make you feel less hungry due to your tiredness.

Shift workers in particular have a difficult time in maintaining their weight because not only are they getting a lack of sleep but they will also be sleeping at various different times of the day and night and that affects your eating habits and your digestion.

Long-term lack of sleep will result in the body storing additional fat so it is essential to do all you can where possible to get a regular night's sleep at reasonable hours to maintain good health and a reasonable body fat percentage.

Obviously taking this to the other extreme where you are sleeping all hours of the day and not getting any exercise will also cause you to retain more body fat and increase weight.

Once again lifestyle has a huge bearing on whether you are at your optimum body weight or not.