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SLEEP, PEPTIDES AND WEIGHT CONTROL

Almost everyone on a cruise gains weight.  Typically, five pounds for a two-week sail.  There are exceptions.  If you get seasick, for one.  There are a few with a strong mind.  You can try to lose weight on tours.  Sleep, I learned, helps reduce gain.

I've tended to increase from 5-8 pounds on a cruise.  I allow this to happen because it turns out that I can lose them all in a week or two when I get home.  Makes a case for this type of weight gain being mostly water.  We always get the full alcoholic drinks package, have at least two meals a day (we tend to skip breakfast by enjoying a nightlife, whereby you wake up just before lunch).  But two large meals, snacks and 10 drinks/day add up calories, especially when one doesn't exercise much, like me on a ship.  I'm still hesitant to use the wellness centers from those pandemic days.

There was one exception.  We took a 52-day Seabourn cruise from Sydney to Honolulu.  I did not gain any weight?  Why?  We tended to sleep from 8-10 hours per day.

Sleep can be the solution to watching your weight.  

  • It's medically proven that your body produces leptin after a long night's sleep.
    • It reduces hunger.
    • Regulates long-term energy balance, signaling the brain about fat stores and suppressing appetite.
    • If you don't sleep well, this leads to lower leptin levels in your system, making you hungrier.
    • Your body also produces ghrelin, which does make you hungrier.  Leptin neutralizes ghrelin.
  • The chemicals that help and hurt are peptides.
    • Amino acids are strings of peptides.  
    • That is, peptides are short proteins about 2-100 amino acids long.  
      • Any length 100-peptides long and over is an amino acid.
      • Oligopeptides are 10-20 long and polypeptides are longer than 20 long.
    • Your body makes peptides.  For example, insulin is a 51-amino acid-long peptide.
    • Peptide drugs have advantages.
      • They can be sent to where they need to go in your body.
      • Have fewer side effects.
      • Are safer because your body breaks them down and can be recycled.
    • Peptide therapy can be by mouth, external application on skin, squirting them in your nose and injection.
    • Peptides are not steroids.
    • Peptides are also naturally found in many foods, such as meat, fish, beans, soy and other seeds.
    • There are more than 100 peptide drugs currently FDA-approved for cancer, myeloma, HIV, diabetes, osteoporosis and pain.
Those new weight-loss drugs mimic the effects of peptides.
  • Wegovy (semaglutide), Saxenda (liraglutide) and Zepbound (tirzepatide) are now approved for chronic weight management, while Ozempic (semaglutide), Victoza (liraglutide), and Mounjaro (tirzepatide), earlier used for type 2 diabetes, are now also used for weight loss.
  • These drugs suppress appetite, slow gastric emptying and block fat absorption.
  • Combined with diet and exercise, patients can lose 15-20% of their body weight.
  • Many fear injections.  There are now pills that will further increase there usage for weight control.  Soon to come will be
However, while the Biden administration was set to approve Medicare and Medicaid to cover weight loss drugs, including Wegovy and Zepbound, President Donald Trump killed this benefit, theoretically saving tens of billion dollars over time...but compounding the problem of obesity in the USA.  However, some of these treatments remain insured for type 2 diabetes.
How fat are Americans? I hesitate showing this entire table, but this just shows how terrible we are.  Note that the only countries more obese than us are Pacific islanders.  Here, someone typically passes out seat belt extensions to incoming airplane passengers.

#CountryIncome group% obesity
1American SamoaHigh income70.29
2NauruHigh income69.65
3Tokelau67.05
4Cook Islands66.05
5Niue63.71
6TongaUpper-middle income63.37
7TuvaluUpper-middle income57.73
8SamoaLower-middle income52.83
9French PolynesiaHigh income47.02
10United StatesHigh income41.64
11QatarHigh income40.79
12BahamasHigh income39.78
13PalauHigh income39.10
14Federated States of MicronesiaLower-middle income39.02
15KuwaitHigh income38.88

17
Saudi ArabiaHigh income38.13
18Marshall IslandsUpper-middle income38.09
19Saint Kitts and NevisHigh income37.59
20Puerto RicoHigh income36.46
21HungaryHigh income36.43
22KiribatiLower-middle income36.08
23MaltaHigh income36.02
24ArgentinaUpper-middle income35.53
25CroatiaHigh income34.80
26GeorgiaUpper-middle income34.34
27JordanLower-middle income34.20
28ChileHigh income34.10
29BelizeUpper-middle income33.62
30IraqUpper-middle income33.35
31New ZealandHigh income32.99
32BahrainHigh income32.91
33EgyptLower-middle income32.48
34MexicoUpper-middle income32.22
35PolandHigh income32.19
36AustraliaHigh income32.05
37UruguayHigh income31.64
38SlovakiaHigh income31.42
39ParaguayUpper-middle income30.76
40CzechiaHigh income30.72
41IrelandHigh income30.70
42Brunei DarussalamHigh income30.22
43GreeceHigh income30.06
44PanamaHigh income29.88
45PalestineLower-middle income29.77
46LebanonLower-middle income29.53
47North MacedoniaUpper-middle income29.11
48United Arab EmiratesHigh income29.02
49NicaraguaLower-middle income28.68
50CanadaHigh income28.16
51LibyaUpper-middle income28.08
52UzbekistanLower-middle income27.88
53LithuaniaHigh income27.87
54BarbadosHigh income27.78
55United KingdomHigh income26.94
56OmanHigh income26.79
57Syrian Arab RepublicLow income26.71
58FijiUpper-middle income26.62
59SerbiaUpper-middle income26.44
60TurkeyUpper-middle income26.22
61CyprusHigh income26.18
62LatviaHigh income25.72
63SloveniaHigh income25.66
64Costa RicaUpper-middle income25.55
65BrazilUpper-middle income25.05
66KyrgyzstanLower-middle income24.96
67BermudaHigh income24.47
68Antigua and BarbudaHigh income24.40
69GreenlandHigh income24.37
70Russian FederationHigh income24.34
71BulgariaHigh income24.08
72Dominican RepublicUpper-middle income24.02
73IsraelHigh income23.81
74IcelandHigh income23.64
75PeruUpper-middle income23.62
76HondurasLower-middle income23.59
77El SalvadorUpper-middle income23.44
78BoliviaLower-middle income23.41
79EstoniaHigh income23.37
80GermanyHigh income23.08
81EcuadorUpper-middle income23.06
82Trinidad and TobagoHigh income22.99
83GuatemalaUpper-middle income22.62
84MongoliaUpper-middle income22.46
85Bosnia and HerzegovinaUpper-middle income22.41
86AlbaniaUpper-middle income22.27
87MoldovaUpper-middle income22.01
88PortugalHigh income21.97
89FinlandHigh income21.88
90MontenegroUpper-middle income21.35
91AndorraHigh income21.06
92LuxembourgHigh income20.99
93NorwayHigh income20.93
94Saint LuciaUpper-middle income20.87
95Venezuela20.82
96UkraineUpper-middle income20.77
97SeychellesHigh income20.58
98TajikistanLower-middle income20.57
99PakistanLower-middle income20.49
100AzerbaijanUpper-middle income20.39
101BelarusUpper-middle income20.13
102TunisiaLower-middle income19.92
103ArmeniaUpper-middle income19.81
104BelgiumHigh income19.79
105SurinameUpper-middle income19.67
106TurkmenistanUpper-middle income19.60
107SpainHigh income19.39
108Saint Vincent and the GrenadinesUpper-middle income19.23
109JamaicaUpper-middle income19.21
110CubaUpper-middle income19.19
111KazakhstanUpper-middle income19.07
112GrenadaUpper-middle income19.06
113AustriaHigh income18.81
114ColombiaUpper-middle income18.58
115DominicaUpper-middle income18.38
116IranUpper-middle income18.26
117Solomon IslandsLower-middle income18.13
118GuyanaHigh income18.10
119ItalyHigh income17.97
120MalaysiaUpper-middle income17.70
121SwedenHigh income17.18
122VanuatuLower-middle income17.04
123Papua New GuineaLower-middle income16.61
124SingaporeHigh income16.09
125AlgeriaUpper-middle income16.03
126DenmarkHigh income15.70
127EswatiniLower-middle income15.62
128SwitzerlandHigh income15.07
129NetherlandsHigh income15.05
130AfghanistanLow income14.88
131South AfricaUpper-middle income14.50
132MoroccoLower-middle income13.79
133MaldivesUpper-middle income13.23
134MauritiusUpper-middle income13.07
135LiberiaLow income13.05
136TaiwanHigh income12.44
137ThailandUpper-middle income12.10
138SudanLow income11.74
139GabonUpper-middle income11.41
140NamibiaUpper-middle income10.65
141YemenLow income10.49
142MaliLow income10.24
143FranceHigh income10.18
144Sao Tome and PrincipeLower-middle income10.06
145GambiaLow income9.77
146CameroonLower-middle income9.69
147BhutanLower-middle income9.61
148MauritaniaLower-middle income9.25
149ChinaUpper-middle income8.94
150LesothoLower-middle income8.82
151South KoreaHigh income8.82
152Cabo VerdeLower-middle income8.79
153BotswanaUpper-middle income8.76
154North KoreaLow income8.65
155NigeriaLower-middle income8.52
156ComorosLower-middle income8.31
157Equatorial GuineaUpper-middle income8.08
158Cote d'IvoireLower-middle income7.95
159Guinea-BissauLow income7.86
160ChadLow income7.71
161JapanHigh income7.63
162BeninLower-middle income7.41
163PhilippinesLower-middle income7.34
164Sri LankaLower-middle income6.76
165HaitiLower-middle income6.73
166TanzaniaLower-middle income6.73
167AngolaLower-middle income6.53
168IndonesiaUpper-middle income6.53
169MozambiqueLow income6.50
170BurundiLow income6.36
171DjiboutiLower-middle income6.35
172Central African RepublicLow income6.33
173KenyaLower-middle income6.32
174GuineaLower-middle income6.16
175SomaliaLow income6.07
176LaosLower-middle income6.06
177TogoLow income5.88
178ZimbabweLower-middle income5.73
179MyanmarLower-middle income5.67
180IndiaLower-middle income5.38
181GhanaLower-middle income5.37
182ZambiaLower-middle income5.34
183South SudanLow income5.32
184NepalLower-middle income4.97
185MadagascarLow income4.63
186NigerLow income4.51
187CongoLower-middle income4.38
188Democratic Republic of CongoLow income4.38
189UgandaLow income4.25
190Burkina FasoLow income4.17
191SenegalLower-middle income4.06
192MalawiLow income3.21
193CambodiaLower-middle income3.12
194BangladeshLower-middle income2.97
195EritreaLow income2.93
196Sierra LeoneLow income2.79
197VietnamLower-middle income1.97
198RwandaLow income1.84
199Timor-LesteLower-middle income1.58
200EthiopiaLow income1.10

Prevalence of obesity (BMI ≥ 30kg/m²)

Amen.

- 

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