When it comes to weight loss we always think in terms of diet and exercise. However, there are many other factors that affect our waistline and one of the most important ones among them is our sleep.
Let's try to understand how our sleep affects our weight.
Our weight or BMI (body mass index) is a direct reflection of our body's hormonal balance as well as metabolism. Sleep affects both of these variables as below.
Lack of adequate restful 7-8 hrs of sleep:
1) Affects leptin and ghrelin secretion in our body. Leptin and ghrelin are two very important hormones that play a role in our appetite. Leptin suppresses the appetite and ghrelin aggravates it. Medical studies have shown that inadequate sleep lowers leptin secretion and elevates ghrelin resulting in increased appetite.
2) Not only does it increase our appetite but also make us crave more sweets and energy dense high refined carb food. Whenever we don't have the restful sleep of 7-8 hrs our stress hormones go up in the body and these hormones, in turn, make us crave more sweets, fatty and salty food.
3) It makes us tired throughout the day. As a result, our endurance for aerobic exercise goes down. Aerobic exercise is very important for fat burning and for boosting up our metabolism. Lack of aerobic exercise makes our waistline go up.
4) It makes us more prone to drink sugary caffeinated drinks to keep us awake during the day. These sugary drinks, in turn, affects our glucose homeostasis and in long-term lead to insulin resistance syndrome. It is a metabolic syndrome characterized by abdominal obesity, high risk of diabetes, high BP and high blood lipid levels.
5) Lack of sleep also makes our mind restless. It is easy to give into food cravings and difficult to plan or organize meals when the body and mind are restless.
So as you stick to your exercise routine to burn that extra fat on your belly don't forget to stick to a healthy sleep routine as well.
Stick to regular sleep time. Wake up and go to bed at the same time everyday.
Avoid eating anything at least 2 hrs prior to your bedtime. Avoid caffeinated drinks at least 4-5 hours before sleep time.
Turn off smartphones, TV or any other electronic device at least 1/2 hr to 1 hr before your regular bedtime.
Read a good relaxing storybook and listen to soothing music before bedtime.
Meditate for 5-10 minutes to calm your mind before going to bed.
Keep the environment dark and cool. Darkness causes our body to release natural sleep hormone melatonin.
For optimal sleep, specialists recommend a room temperature of between 60 and 67 F°.
Sweet Dreams ! Sleep your fat away!