Proper Sleep Is Essential For Weight Loss
16 Sep 2009If you’ve got a little roll of fat around your middle (or perhaps more than that), curing that may be something as simple as getting enough Zs at night. In fact, you could be carrying around a “little extra” weight simply because you don’t get enough sleep. Studies have shown that if you get more sleep, you are less likely to be obese. If you get less, though, you’re actually fighting your body’s natural processes to keep you from becoming overweight. This makes it much more difficult to lose weight as you attempt to lose it, if you are doing so. By getting enough sleep every night, you’ll be able to lose weight and keep your food cravings down, too. In addition, this will help you “feel full” as you eat so that you don’t eat too much and gain weight.
Studies conducted on women have shown that the hormone, ghrelin, is one of the culprits in the whole sleep/weight loss issue. It was found that ghrelin stimulates hunger and people who sleep less stimulate more ghrelin. It was also found that cravings were increased. The food cravings were particularly noted to be for starchy foods and fatty foods. These cravings resulted in additional weight gain.
The other major player in getting enough sleep and controlling weight is another hormone, leptin. Leptin is actually the opposite of ghrelin, whereby it tells the body to stop taking food because hunger has been satisfied. When you don’t get enough sleep, your levels of leptin appear to be decreased. This was also shown in these studies with women; because of lower levels of leptin, these women were much more likely eat more and not feel full when they should have, which resulted in them gaining weight.
Women who slept about 10 hours a night had normal levels of both leptin and ghrelin, versus those who slept less than five hours a night. For those who slept less than five hours, they were 32% more likely to gain weight. In addition, it wasn’t just “a little” weight, but substantial, about 33 pounds or even more. If women slept at least six hours, they were 12% more likely to gain weight versus those who slept about 10.
What’s perhaps most puzzling about this, though, is that women who deprived themselves of sleep actually ate LESS than those who slept more. Therefore, this shows that the body burns calories more intensively and maintains weight better when one sleeps enough every night.
The sleep/weight loss issue has been studied quite intensely. The key to losing weight appears quite clearly to be proper sleep and a healthy diet. These two factors are necessary to achieve a healthier body. Do not rely on quick weight loss tips, but a healthier lifestyle instead.
It’s time to take control of your body and your life. Get enough sleep every night. If you have to get less sleep a few nights every week, then make the difference up as soon as you can on your days off. You can also “catch up” by taking naps if you must.
Eat healthy and stop eating before you reach the ‘full’ mark. Chew your food and slow down. It takes some time for your stomach to recognize that it has had enough. Going over this point will result in weight gain. Do not follow fad diets or quick weight loss tips. The only road that is successful in losing weight is the healthy one.
