Monday, November 30, 2009

Sleep Weight Method to Lose Excess Pounds

If you've got a little roll of fat around your middle (or perhaps more than that), curing that may be something as simple as getting enough Zs at night. In fact, you could be carrying around a "little extra" weight simply because you don't get enough sleep. Studies have shown that if you get more sleep, you are less likely to be obese.

If you get less, though, you're actually fighting your body's natural processes to keep you from becoming overweight. This makes it much more difficult to lose weight as you attempt to lose it, if you are doing so. By getting enough sleep every night, you'll be able to lose 10 pounds fast and keep your food cravings down, too. In addition, this will help you "feel full" as you eat so that you don't eat too much and gain weight.

Studies conducted on women have shown that the hormone, ghrelin, is one of the culprits in the whole sleep/weight loss issue. It was found that ghrelin stimulates hunger and people who sleep less stimulate more ghrelin. It was also found that cravings were increased. The food cravings were particularly noted to be for starchy foods and fatty foods. These cravings resulted in additional weight gain.

There's another player in the lack of sleep weight issue, and that is the hormone leptin. Leptin, as opposed to ghrelin, signifies that you're full so that you stop eating. However, if you don't sleep enough, the hormone leptin appears to be suppressed; this results in your not feeling full, which can cause you to gain weight.

Women who slept about 10 hours a night had normal levels of both leptin and ghrelin, versus those who slept less than five hours a night. For those who slept less than five hours, they were 32% more likely to gain weight. In addition, it wasn't just "a little" weight, but substantial, about 33 pounds or even more. If women slept at least six hours, they were 12% more likely to gain weight versus those who slept about 10.

Perhaps most puzzling of all, those who were sleep deprived actually ate less than those who slept more, even though they gained more weight. This definitely shows us that the body certainly knows how to keep itself at its most efficient when we sleep more.

The link between sleep and weight loss has been studied quite intensively. It appears that the key to losing weight is to get enough sleep and a diet that's healthy. You have to do these things if you want to be healthier. So instead of relying on "quick" weight loss tips, simply adopt a healthier lifestyle overall.

You can take control of your life and your body. Sleep enough every night; if you have to short change yourself on sleep a couple of nights a week, you can catch up by making up the difference on weekends, or you can take naps to catch up.

Eat healthy foods and stop eating before you are overly full. You can help yourself do this by chewing your food slowly and thoroughly, and eating more slowly in general. It takes time for your body to realize that you've had enough to eat, and if you don't slow down to allow this to happen, you could overeat and cause yourself to gain weight. So don't rely on fad diets, but instead lose weight by being healthy and balanced. This is a much better and healthier approach than relying on quick weight loss tips.

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