RSSSleep Your Way Thin
Personal Health health, lose weight, nutrition 2 Comments
A lot of experts say that if you want to lose weight, you need to get enough sleep. I find that hard to believe unless if it is because when you are asleep, you are not eating. When you do not eat, you lose weight.
But that is just a silly guess of mine. In fact, it has been proven that sleep greatly contributes to losing and gaining weight. It has some relation to the production of hormones leptin and ghrelin that can be influenced by how much or how little we sleep. Ghrelin, which is produced in the gastrointestinal tract, stimulates appetite, while leptin, produced in fat cells, sends a signal to the brain when you are full. When a person is not getting enough sleep, it drives leptin levels down that signals your brain to take in more food and an increases ghrelin levels stimulating your appetite that makes you crave for more food.
Have you notice people who are working during night shifts? They tend to eat more. Or to some people who need to stay up late, they will stack up caffeine, sweets and carbonated drinks. It is because of these hormones.
To lose weight safely, a person needs to have at least seven to eight hours of sleep. Some may find this easy, but to others like me, this will need a lot of effort. So how do I do it? I do not push sleep on me. I go to bed when I feel that I am about to fall asleep. I set the lighting inside my room to mood lights to help me fall asleep. (I only one daylight inside my room and the rest are just dimmers) and I make sure that I have thick drapes so that I will have longer sleep.
If after exerting all efforts, you are still not having enough sleep, then it is time to seek the help of a doctor.