Sleep and Weight Loss

love22step

I thought this might be handy to pass along. I'm often guilty of not getting enough sleep.

"The effects of too-little sleep go beyond simply feeling tired. For instance, have you been hitting the gym and watching what you eat, but you just can't seem to lose weight? One reason might be lack of sleep. A 2010 study in Annals of Internal Medicine included 10 overweight adults who ate a reduced-calorie diet. When they slept only 5.5 hours a night, they lost less body fat and more lean body mass than when they slept 8.5 hours. (I know, it's a small study, but I'm sure I've read about others, too.)

The shorter sleep time was also associated with feeling hungrier during the day. "If you really want to lose weight, you need to pay as much attention to sleep as you do to diet and exercise," says Tracey Marks, M.D., an Atlanta psychiatrist and author of Master Your Sleep: Proven Methods Simplified." (taken from inhealth.about.com website)

Hoosiermomma

This is an area I really need to work on! How do you know what is the optimal amount of sleep for yourself. I am pretty sure that I cannot sleep 8 hours a night!

SheaHF

I've found that when I sleep more (go to bed early) I lose more weight! It's hard to keep up, but I think I need a lot of sleep!

nibblerbigcat

I believe there is a strong correlation between sleep and weight loss. Think about it - the more time you are sleeping, the less time you have to be eating! Like going to bed earlier means less snacking :-)

I do believe there is a science component to it as well. Just a guess here, but maybe lack of sleep triggers the stress hormone in your body and makes your body hang onto fat. I know that I feel more stressed AND more hungry when I get little sleep. When I get more sleep, on the other hand, I have less of an appetite and I am more inclined to reach for healthy foods.

Everybody should strive to get more sleep. You will reap more benefits than just losing weight!