Sleep is one of the basic pillars of health. We already know that our body repairs itself while we sleep, which is why we need so much extra sleep when we’re sick. We know that sleep is needed for proper brain function; studies show that extended sleeplessness results in significantly deteriorated brain function compared to a rested brain. But did you know that getting enough sleep is a major tool in your fat loss arsenal?
The study results are overwhelmingly consistent. Inadequate sleep has been proven to result in:
· Increased fat loss for dieters, (Oct 2010) – This study placed 10 participates on a calorie-restricted diet and had one group sleep 8 ½ hours a night while the other only got 5 ½ hours. Both groups lost weight, but the group with greater sleep lost 55% more weight from body fat than did the 5 ½ hour group.
· Increased consumption of calories (March 2012) - Specifically, an average of 549 extra calories was eaten per participant in the sleep-deprived group, who only slept 66% of their usual hours per night.
· Increased desire for high fat, high calorie foods and increased intake of snack foods (Sept 2010) - In a study on teenagers, teens who got less than 8 hours of sleep per night consumed a higher percentage of calories from fat, ate more snacks and took in a higher overall number of calories per day.
And that’s not all. In a study just released today, in a sleep study of 1088 pairs of twins (604 identical, 484 fraternal), increased amounts of sleep were shown to help fight genetic predisposition towards weight gain. The more sleep a twin got, the lower their BMI tended to be in comparison to the other twin. And the less sleep a twin got, the higher their BMI. The study found that higher quantities of sleep appear to counteract genetic tendencies towards weight gain. For people who believe that they are just “born to be fat,” this is an important finding.
Losing weight by sleeping more seems counter-intuitive. After all, you don’t burn nearly as many calories while snoring away as you would if you were awake and active. But the secret seems to lie in our bodies’ still-mysterious endocrine system, which regulates a number of poorly-understood hormones. Sleep quantity and quality appear to affect certain hormones which play a role in appetite and fat metabolism: specifically, leptin and ghrelin.
· Leptin is a hormone secreted by your fat cells, and it plays a roll in hunger and your metabolic thermostat. Low levels of leptin increase the amount of hunger you feel. High levels of leptin should decrease hunger and at one point researchers hoped to create a leptin pill that would reduce appetite. Unfortunately, it appears that beyond a certain threshold, leptin resistance develops, lessening its ability to decrease hunger. And because leptin is secreted by fat cells themselves, the very people who would hope to benefit from a “leptin pill” are the same people who have more than enough of it but have developed a resistance to its effects.
· Ghrelin. Ghrelin is a hormone secreted by your stomach which increases appetite. An increase of ghrelin has been shown to make higher calorie food look more appealing than food choices under the same circumstances. But ghrelin is also known to play a role in memory and growth, so any attempt to manipulate it may have undesirable side effects.
Sleep researchers are finding that sleep-deprived subjects experience increased levels of bad-food-choice-inducing ghrelin and increased leptin levels. Put bluntly, a lack of sleep makes you want to eat worse food (and more of it) than you would have if you had gotten adequate sleep. When it comes to sleep, more is better. It means less overall calories eaten, improved leptin and ghrelin levels, and more energy the following morning.
Few of us actually get enough sleep. In fact, a new report by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) found that more than 40 million workers get fewer than six hours of sleep each night.
So how do you begin to get some extra ZZZ’s?
The National Sleep Foundation suggests the following to improve your sleep:
- Set and stick to a sleep schedule. Go to bed and wake up at the same times each day.
- Expose yourself to bright light in the morning and avoid it at night. Exposure to bright morning light energizes us and prepares us for a productive day. Alternatively, dim your lights when it's close to bedtime. Additionally, you can use blackout curtains to darken you sleeping space, which purportedly improves the quality of your sleep.
- Exercise regularly. Exercise in the morning can help you get the light exposure you need to set your biological clock. Avoid vigorous exercise close to bedtime if you are having problems sleeping.
- Establish a relaxing bedtime routine. Allow enough time to wind down and relax before going to bed.
- Create a cool, comfortable sleeping environment that is free of distractions. If you're finding that entertainment or work-related communications are creating anxiety, remove these distractions from your bedroom.
- Treat your bed as your sanctuary from the stresses of the day. If you find yourself still lying awake after 20 minutes or so, get up and do something relaxing in dim light until you are sleepy.
- Keep a "worry book" next to your bed. If you wake up because of worries, write them down with an action plan, and forget about them until morning.
- Avoid caffeinated beverages, chocolate and tobacco at night.
- Avoid large meals and beverages right before bedtime.
- No nightcaps. Drinking alcohol before bed can rob you of deep sleep and can cause you to wake up too early.
- Avoid medicines that delay or disrupt your sleep. If you have trouble sleeping, ask your doctor or pharmacist if your medications might be contributing to your sleep problem.
- No late-afternoon or evening naps, unless you work nights. If you must nap, keep it under 45 minutes and before 3:00 pm.
If you are serious about losing fat, you need to get a good night’s sleep. Sleep is integral to good health and researchers continue to find significant benefits.
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