Good sleep helps our bodies work better.
crazy, right? I'm sure you've all noticed that you function better after the right amount of sleep for you each night. I do. My ideal amount of sleep is 8-9 hours of sleep a night. Studies have shown that adults should be sleeping 7-10 hours a night for optimum health, and your ideal number of hours is individual within that. I'm guessing that most people out there are getting WAY less than that. I know when I get less than 8 hours of good sleep at night, I'm like a zombie. Focusing on tasks at hand gets more difficult and I am always kind of scared getting behind the wheel when I am tired. For good reason, according to this article on CNN. ( http://articles.cnn.com/2000-09-20/health/sleep.deprivation_1_sleep-deprivation-impairment-researchers?_s=PM:HEALTH )
Where am I going with this?
Weight gain. Or, more accurately, the lack of weight loss. How many of you are trying incredibly hard to lose weight, but can't seem to drop a pound when you're doing everything correctly? I bet there are a lot of us out there. Here is the scoop as I've been reading for the past couple years:
Sleep is crucial to your health. Lack of sleep gets your hormones all out of balance, including several key hormones to weight maintenance. A study done in Chicago measured the levels of two hormones groups of men; leptin and ghrelin. Leptin is the hormone that tells you stop eating. Ghrelin is the hormone that tells you to keep eating. During the study, 12 healthy men were deprived of sleep for 2 days. The result of the study was that leptin levels went up while ghrelin levels dropped and the men experienced proportional appetite increases. Uh oh. Appetite increases. It is hard enough to keep your diet balanced and healthy while avoiding overeating when you are NOT sleep deprived. Now studies are showing that sleep deprivation makes you hungry.
Moral of the story? It's time to start monitoring your sleep as well as diet and exercise.
I am therefore calling out for a challenge!
In the next 2 weeks watch and record how much sleep you're getting and how you feel that day - hunger and health wise. See if you can get at least 7 hours a night. It's worth it.
Some of my sources for today's topic:
