Your fatty liver may be caused by staying up late!

Do you think staying up late is just overdrawing your sleep? In fact, every time you stay up late, you are increasing the burden of liver fat metabolism. You who watch TV series late at night or suffer from insomnia may be quietly starting the body's "fat storage mode"! At present, metabolic-related fatty liver disease has surpassed viral hepatitis and become China's largest chronic liver disease, affecting more than 30% of the adult population, and the prevalence is still increasing year by year.

Is fatty liver a disease? More serious than you think

Many people think that fatty liver is just a "sub-healthy" state, but in fact, fatty liver is not a small problem. It does not mean that fat is wrapped around the liver, but that excessive accumulation of fat in liver cells will cause continuous impact on the liver's blood supply, oxygen supply, and self-metabolism.

Metabolism-related fatty liver disease accounts for more than 80% of fatty liver cases and is the most common type. It refers to the combination of at least one metabolic abnormality on the basis of fatty liver, including obesity, type 2 diabetes or metabolic disorders (hypertension, hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia). Although most patients are in the relatively benign stage of simple fatty liver, if not intervened in time, 20%-30% of patients with metabolic-related fatty liver disease will progress to metabolic-related fatty hepatitis, liver cell damage and inflammatory response, and even cause liver fibrosis and cirrhosis, increasing the risk of malignant tumors such as liver cancer.

Who is prone to metabolic-related fatty liver disease?

There are three main factors:

• Genetic factors, some people are born with a weak liver ability to metabolize fat;
• Long-term high-fat and high-sugar diet;
• Lack of exercise, sedentary, often staying up late and other unhealthy lifestyles.

How does staying up late damage liver health?

1. Irregular sleep time and disordered sleep cycle

The liver is the central organ for the body to regulate energy and sugar and lipid metabolism. Staying up late will break the normal biological clock rhythm, disrupt hormone metabolism, and trigger liver inflammation. Interfere with the way the body processes fat and sugar, causing fat to accumulate in the liver and increasing the risk of fatty liver.

2. Insufficient sleep time

There is a U-shaped relationship between sleep duration and the risk of fatty liver. Sleeping less than 6 hours or more than 8 hours may increase the risk of fatty liver.

3. Late bedtime

Generally speaking, falling asleep after 23:00 is considered to be late. Although going to bed late is not strictly staying up late, long-term late sleep can cause melatonin secretion disorders, thereby disrupting the body's biological clock and circadian rhythm, and also increase the body's metabolic burden.

In addition, when staying up late, the level of leptin (appetite suppressing hormone) decreases and the level of ghrelin (appetite stimulating hormone) increases, making people more likely to overeat late at night. When staying up late, eating high-sugar and high-fat foods such as milk tea, fried chicken, and barbecue will make liver health even worse.

How to reduce the damage caused by staying up late?

If we have to stay up late, how can we reduce the damage caused by staying up late?

1. Get enough sleep

If you stayed up late the day before, you can make up for the sleep between 13:00 and 15:00 the next day. The duration of the sleep should be 30 minutes to 1 hour. Avoid making up for the sleep and affecting your sleep the next day. However, it is still difficult to completely alleviate the damage caused by staying up late. Studies have shown that making up for the sleep can restore some of the cognitive decline caused by staying up late, but it has limited effect on improving key metabolic indicators such as liver inflammation indicators and insulin resistance.

2. Maintain a healthy lifestyle

Staying up late is associated with an increased risk of fatty liver disease, and this effect is more obvious in people who lack physical activity and have central obesity. Therefore, refusing to sit for a long time, exercising properly, and keeping your weight within a normal range can reduce the damage to your body caused by staying up late.

3. Scientifically choose snacks for staying up late

Although eating when staying up late is irregular, it may interfere with the biological clock rhythm. However, not eating at all may cause hunger to affect sleep or cause hypoglycemia, so when staying up late, you can choose to supplement some key nutrients to help cell repair and energy supply, and alleviate the adverse effects of staying up late:

• Foods rich in vitamins A, B, and C, prevent visual fatigue and maintain body metabolism, such as carrots, oranges, bananas, blueberries, wolfberries, etc.;
• Protein-rich foods, provide lasting energy for the body to stay up late, such as sugar-free yogurt, plain nuts, etc.

Mild simple fatty liver can be completely reversed by changing your lifestyle! Don't let an unhealthy lifestyle become the norm in your life. Changes might as well start from not staying up late tonight.