Finding Your Sleep Sweet Spot
Your clients can use sleep to help them lose weight by rising within 30 minutes of the same time every day and getting into bed with the lights out at the same time each night. Urge them to experiment with eight hours of sleep per night, plus or minus 15 minutes, until they find how much sleep they truly need.
Remind your clients to be honest about how much sleep is ideal for them. Many people believe they can get by with little sleep, when they really cannot. When people get an adequate amount of quality sleep per night, they are more likely to have the energy to exercise and the motivation to make choices that align with their goals.
If your clients are having trouble going to sleep or staying asleep, encourage them to try the following tactics:
- Prioritize relaxing, stress-free evening activities that help wind you down to rest.
- Avoid stimulating evening activities until you get into a sleep rhythm.
- Avoid electronics and blue spectrum light exposure one hour before bed.
- Reduce or, ideally, eliminate alcohol and caffeine.
- Aim to finish dinner two to three hours before you get into bed.
How Much Sleep Do I Really Need
The National Sleep Foundation recommends that most healthy adults strive to get between seven and nine hours of sleep a night. We know, this is often easier said than done.
While the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services points out that getting enough sleep can help you maintain a healthy weight, the organization also lists plenty of other benefits to getting enough sleep. Those include:
- Getting sick less often
- Reducing stress and improving your mood
- Thinking more clearly and doing better in school and at work
- Getting along better with people
- Making good decisions
Is There Any Health Benefit To Sleeping Nude
Maybe. There might be some psychological benefits for some people. One study found that spending time nude improves body image, and sleeping nude is an easy way to do that. Another study noted that skin-to-skin contact with one’s partner, including during sleep, contributes to the release of oxytocin, which helps you form a deeper bond and is linked to lowering stress levels. If you aren’t happy to be sleeping nude, however, then it won’t have any health benefits for you.
Recommended Reading: Why Do Men Get An Erection While Sleeping
Practice Mindful Eating Instead
Avoid distractions while eating. Try not to eat while working, watching TV, or driving. Its too easy to mindlessly overeat.
Pay attention.Eat slowly, savoring the smells and textures of your food. If your mind wanders, gently return your attention to your food and how it tastes.
Mix things up to focus on the experience of eating. Try using chopsticks rather than a fork, or use your utensils with your non-dominant hand.
Stop eating before you are full. It takes time for the signal to reach your brain that youve had enough. Dont feel obligated to always clean your plate.
Fill Up With Fruit Veggies And Fiber
Even if youre cutting calories, that doesnt necessarily mean you have to eat less food. High-fiber foods such as fruit, vegetables, beans, and whole grains are higher in volume and take longer to digest, making them fillingand great for weight-loss.
Its generally okay to eat as much fresh fruit and non-starchy vegetables as you wantyoull feel full before youve overdone it on the calories.
Eat vegetables raw or steamed, not fried or breaded, and dress them with herbs and spices or a little olive oil for flavor.
Add fruit to low sugar cerealblueberries, strawberries, sliced bananas. Youll still enjoy lots of sweetness, but with fewer calories, less sugar, and more fiber.
Bulk out sandwiches by adding healthy veggie choices like lettuce, tomatoes, sprouts, cucumbers, and avocado.
Snack on carrots or celery with hummus instead of a high-calorie chips and dip.
Add more veggies to your favorite main courses to make your dish more substantial. Even pasta and stir-fries can be diet-friendly if you use less noodles and more vegetables.
Start your meal with salad or vegetable soup to help fill you up so you eat less of your entrée.
Don’t Miss: Sleep Number Warehouse Odenton Md
Sleep May Help You Lose Weight
Researchers have found that people who sleep fewer hours per night are more likely to be overweight or obese. It is thought that a lack of sleep impacts the balance of hormones in the body that affect appetite.
The hormones ghrelin and leptin, which regulate appetite, have been found to be disrupted by lack of sleep. If you want to maintain or lose weight, don’t forget that getting adequate sleep on a regular basis is a huge part of the equation.
How Sleep Can Affect Your Weight Loss Efforts
Obesity has become one of the biggest problems among people in the United States. As a matter of fact, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases have reported that more than one in three adults are overweight.
With these numbers, it is no surprise why there are so many people who are diagnosed with certain health problems among which include heart disease and diabetes. This is why it is so important for these people to lose weight.
Unfortunately, attempting to lose weight may be a struggle for some people. Even though they spend three to five times a week exercising and follow a strict diet, they could still be struggling with their weight loss efforts.
What they forget to realize though is that the lack of good quality sleep could be affecting their attempts at losing weight. And this alone hosts a number of problems for someones health.
You might also like: 12 Keto Weight Loss Tips For The Morbidly Obese!
Recommended Reading: What Is Comparable To A Sleep Number Bed
Sleep Deprivation And Type 2 Diabetes
Baseline levels of insulin do not signal muscle and fat cells to absorb glucose. When glucose levels are elevated, the pancreas responds by releasing insulin. Blood sugar will then rapidly drop. This can progress to type 2 diabetes.
Sleep loss can affect the basic metabolic functions of storing carbohydrates and regulating hormones. Reduction of sleep from eight hours to four hours produces changes in glucose tolerance and endocrine function. Researchers from the University of Chicago Medical Center followed 11 healthy young men for 16 consecutive nights. The first 3 nights, the young men slept for the normal 8 hours. The next 6 nights, they slept for 4 hours. The next 7 nights, they spent 12 hours in bed. They all had the same diet. They found that there were changes in glucose metabolism that resemble that of type 2 diabetes patients. When the participants were tested after sleep deprivation, they took 40% longer than normal to regulate blood sugar levels after a high-carbohydrate meals. The secretion of insulin and the body’s response to insulin decrease by 30%. Sleep deprivation also alters the productions of hormones, lowering the secretion of thyroid stimulating hormone and increasing blood levels of cortisol.
The Bottom Line: Sleep Is A Promising Target For Obesity Prevention
There is convincing evidence that getting a less than ideal amount of sleep is an independent and strong risk factor for obesity, in infants and children as well as in adults. Most of the research thus far, however, has consisted of observational studies, and it remains to be seen whether teaching children or adults how to get a better nights sleep can lower their risk of obesity or help them lose weight. Randomized clinical trials that are currently underway may soon provide more answers.
Some researchers have cautioned against being too quick to promote sleep as an answer to the obesity epidemic, given the shortcomings of the research conducted to date. Yet from a public health perspective, there is little risk in encouraging healthy sleep through lifestyle changes, such as setting a consistent bedtime, limiting caffeine late in the day, and curtailing high-tech distractions in the bedroom. Good sleep habits have other benefits, too, like boosting alertness at school or work, improving mood, and enhancing overall quality of life. Thats all the more reason to put a long nights sleep on the short list for obesity prevention.
Read Also: Top Of The Line Sleep Number Bed
Can Progesterone Therapy Help You Lose Weight
Even though it is not prescribed directly for this purpose, the use of progesterone therapy for weight loss is helping many women dealing with menopause and men facing andropause lose unwanted fat. As with any other hormone replacement treatment, progesterone therapy should not be prescribed until blood analysis has been completed and shown a deficiency.
One essential point to consider progesterone is not the same thing as progestin. Progesterone is a bioidentical form of hormone replacement and progestin is a synthetic compound that is manufactured by drug companies to be different in structure to progesterone. That is what gives progestin its proprietary patents.
At Kingsberg Medical, our doctors have seen positive progesterone weight loss reviews from our clients who have received this type of hormone replacement therapy. For additional answers or information, or to arrange blood testing or a complimentary consultation, please contact us by phone or completing the form below.
Health Effects Of Sleep Apnea And Excess Weight
Deprived of sufficient, quality rest, sleep apnea sufferers experience significant stress on their cardiovascular, metabolic, and pulmonary systems. This may be particularly worrisome for obese people, because obesity can also elevate the risk of heart, lung, and metabolic problems, potentially compounding their health concerns.
You May Like: Midwest Dental Sleep Center Oak Brook
Adequate Sleep To Improve The Treatment Of Obesity
Correspondence to:
Energy restriction combined with increased physical activity is widely used to induce weight loss and reduce the health risks associated with excess fat. However, individual responses to typical weight-loss programs can vary greatly, emphasizing the need to adopt more personalized approaches. Less considered factors may explain the failure of traditional treatments. Among the behavioural factors that have been shown to impede weight loss, insufficient sleep is gaining attention and recognition.
Chronic sleep restriction is pervasive in modern societies, and there is robust evidence supporting the role of reduced sleep as contributing to the current obesity epidemic. New studies provide evidence that insufficient sleep enhances hedonic stimulus processing in the brain underlying the drive to consume food thus, insufficient sleep results in increased food intake. In addition, lack of sleep has been reported to decrease plasma leptin levels, increase plasma ghrelin and cortisol levels, alter glucose homeostasis and activate the orexin system, all of which affect the control of appetite and might compromise the efficacy of dietary interventions.
Future research should try to identify waking activities under discretionary control that could be replaced with increased time spent sleeping and testing the effectiveness of interventions for achieving additional sleep .
Key points
Does Sleep Affect Weight Loss: Lack Of Sleep And Appetite
Hormones play a big part in regulating or increasing our appetites – for instance most of us feel hungrier than normal when we’ve drunk alcohol the night before, normally because weve had less quality sleep and our hormones have been disrupted.
PLos Med research shows that when ghrelin and leptin, the two hunger hormones, are impacted, with disruption to sleep, it can change our diets or how much we crave food. Ghrelin, a hormone which helps to tell you you’re hungry, is released when you have an empty stomach, while Leptin helps to suppress hunger and informs the brain when were hungry.
However, Seabright said: “Sleep is key for our body to regulate these hormones. When the body is not able to regulate these properly, the result can be increased hunger levels and reduced satiety, which make it more difficult to adhere to a nutritionally optimal diet.”
In fact the research around these two hormones, with over 1000 people, found that participants who slept for shorter periods, than those who had a good night’s sleep, had higher ghrelin levels and lower leptin levels. While BMI levels were also higher in the participants who slept for less hours each night.
“When we dont get enough sleep, ghrelin, the ‘hunger hormone, and leptin, the ‘satiety hormone, can become imbalanced leading to increased feelings of hunger and reduced satiety throughout the day,” Seabright explained, “Not only do you feel hungrier, but you are less able to recognise when you are full!”
Recommended Reading: The Edge Of Sleep Podcast
Turning To Night Time Weight Loss Supplements
To lose belly fat, you cannot simply rely on the proper sleeping position, or cooling down the bedroom. You still need to adhere to a proper diet and an exercise regime.
But, there is a way for you to get to the results quicker and easier. The night time weight loss supplements are all the rage in the diet industry.
These supplements are taken before bedtime, and they promote fat and weight loss as you sleep. They work together with your body and metabolism and dont just promote calorie and fat burning, but also deep, restful sleep.
Measure Your Progress Wisely
Tracking successful weight loss is sometimes trickier than youd think. Focusing primarily on weight and stepping on the scale every day might be misleading, cause unnecessary anxiety, and undermine your motivation for no good reason.
The scale is not necessarily your friend. You may want to lose fat but the scale measures muscles, bone and internal organs as well. Gaining muscle is a good thing. Thus weight or BMI are imperfect ways to measure your progress. This is especially true if youre just coming off a long period of semi-starvation , as your body may want to restore lost muscle. Starting weight training and gaining muscle can also hide your fat loss.
Losing fat and gaining muscle means great progress, but you may miss this if you only measure your weight. Thus its best to quantify body composition as you lose weight. You can do this with a DEXA scan, hydrostatic weights, plethysmography scales and others. But if these are not available, it is smart to also track the disappearance of your belly fat, by measuring your waist circumference.
Heres how to do it:
I recommend aiming for good but its not always realistic. Young people can usually achieve this, but for some middle-aged or older people, it may be a major victory to get all the way to decent.25
Measuring progress
- Blood pressure
You May Like: Sleep Number Bed Erie Pa
Get The Recommended 7
There are some instances where getting a full nights sleep can be a challenge, especially if you have young children or a sleep disorder. However, sleep duration matters just as much as sleep quality does when it comes to weight loss.
Not only are people who sleep 7-9 hours able to lose weight easier than people who sleep 6 hours or less each night, but theyre also able to lose weight specifically in their waist circumference.
Abdominal fat is especially dangerous to your health because it increases your risk of metabolic and cardiovascular disease. Therefore, losing belly fat can have a big impact on your overall health.
Related:Trouble Sleeping? 7 Common Causes of Insomnia
Sleep Helps The Body Repair Itself
Sleep is a time for you to relax, but it’s also a time during which the body is hard at work repairing damage caused by stress, ultraviolet rays, and other harmful exposure. Your cells produce certain proteins while you are sleeping. These protein molecules form the building blocks for cells, allowing them to repair the damage of the day so you can stay healthy.
You May Like: Sleep Number Bed Tyler Tx
May Help You Avoid Weight Gain Associated With Short Sleep
Short sleep usually defined as fewer than 67 hours has been repeatedly linked to a higher body mass index and weight gain.
One analysis of 20 studies including 300,000 people found a 41% increased obesity risk among adults who slept fewer than 7 hours per night. In contrast, sleep was not a factor in the development of obesity in adults who slept longer .
Another study found short sleep duration to be significantly associated with greater waist circumference, which is an indicator of the accumulation of belly fat (
Studies have also found similar associations in children and adolescents.
In a recent review of 33 observational and intervention studies, short sleep duration was associated with an increased risk of obesity. Interestingly, for every additional hour of sleep, BMI scores decreased .
Another review of many observational studies found short sleep duration was associated with a significantly higher risk of obesity in these different age groups (
- Early childhood: 57% increased risk
- Middle childhood: 123% increased risk
- Adolescence: 30% increased risk
One major review found that short sleep duration increased the likelihood of obesity in children by 3045% .
Though lack of sleep is only one factor in the development of obesity, research suggests it negatively affects hunger levels, influencing a person to consume more calories from high fat and high sugar foods.
If You Eat At Night Keep It Small
While you shouldn’t go to bed starving , you also shouldn’t hit the sack completely stuffed. When you eat a large meal before bed, your body is working to digest it long into the nightand if your body is still worked up, so are you. The later you fall asleep, the less rest you’ll get, and you’ll wake up feeling groggy and more likely to reach for calorie-dense items.
Instead of eating a monster meal for dinner, try to keep portions about the same as your breakfast and lunch, especially if you eat dinner on the later side. “You want to eat your last meal at least an hour or two before going to bed,” says Isabel Smith, MS, RD, CDN.
Also Check: Sleep Number Bed Colorado Springs
