Have you thought about how your sleeping patterns may effect your struggle with weight? This has been a frequent conversation with clients lately, especially with those who are trying to balance a demanding job, family, exercise and personal time. Often they wonder, who has time for sleep? Especially, a sound and uninterrupted sleep?
However, when it comes to nutrition and health, there is always just more than one factor which effects both your challenges and success. We can talk about food choices, portion sizes and the timing of eating that can all lead to better health and weight loss, but how effective are these strategies – or are they as effective as they could be – if the foundation of a healthy body has a crack in it. A good night sleep is worth talking about and worth making a top goal in your health and fitness plan. Read a few important facts and tips about sleep, derived from Eatingwell.com, November/December 2011….
1. An estimated 50-70 million U.S. adults do not get enough sleep, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
2. If you sleep poorly once or twice a week, you can make up for it. But after more than a few sleepless nights, it becomes harder to “recover” from lost sleep, says research from Penn State.
3. When dieters slept 5.5 hours a night for 2 weeks, they burned less fat and more muscle than those who slept 8.5 hours, a small study in the Annals of Internal Medicine showed. Sleeping less than 5 hours per night may cause weight gain to settle around your midsection. The secretion of stress hormone Cortisol, which is linked to belly-fat accumulation is its lowest at night, but sleep loss boosts cortisol the day after a night of poor sleep.
4. If you have missed an hour or two of sleep, you are more likely to give in to junk food the next day, a Harvard study found. The prefrontal cortex, part of the brain responsible for self-control – is compromised by sleep loss.
5. Research indicates that even one night of low-quality sleep or low-quantity (less than 6 hours) can cause an increase in insulin resistance, a major contributor to type 2 diabetes.
6. Habitually skimping on sleep may increase your risk for heart disease.
7. Skimping on sleep can compromise your immune system. One study in the Journal of American Medical Association showed those who slept only 4 hours each night for a week, produced half the number of flu-fighting antibodies.
8. One night of sleep deprivation may cause your skin to lose elasticity, firmness and moisture, making fine lines and wrinkles more noticeable, say researchers at Cornell University.
9. Too little sleep may cause changes in brain chemicals that fuel depression, sadness and anxiety. Often that frame of mind can lead to poor eating and exercise habits.
10. When your brain is sleep-deprived, you make more mistakes, your judgment is poorer and you have difficulty making decisions, says a 2011 study in Nature.
Some tips on sleeping better: MAKE TIME TO SLEEP!
1. Make sure to fit exercise in more than 3 hours before bed. If it’s any closer to bed-time, it may make it hard to fall asleep.
2. Keep the room dark! No light from computers, clocks or smartphones. They may suppress melatonin, a sleep-inducing hormone triggered by darkness.
3. Avoid large meals late at night, as they can cause indigestion that interferes with sleep.
4. Remember alcohol may help you fall asleep, but as little as two drinks can cause you to sleep less restfully.
5. A deficiency in of calcium (ask your doctor) may make it difficult to fall asleep, consuming too little magnesium (found in whole grains and nuts) may make it harder to stay asleep.
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