HEALTHY LIFESTYLE · JULY 2017
is compromised. This increases the production
of cortisol, explained above, and you fall into a
vicious cycle of exhaustion due to stress factors.
Even the most attentive of
us can fall into a pattern
of poor sleep. As seen
above, it doesn’t take long
for your body to become
compromised from a lack
of rest, resulting in both
short term and long term health risks. In fact,
it is estimated that up to one third of adults
are suffering from sleep debt at any given time,
meaning they aren’t getting the estimated 7 to 9
hours of rest needed for a healthy sleep duration.
And a lack of sleep isn’t only personal, many
vehicular and industrial accidents are caused each
year due to operator fatigue. So what can you do
to help get the shut-eye you need?
TIPS FOR A
BETTER
NIGHT'S
REST
HOW SLEEP SUPPORTS YOUR
WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAM
T
his article is going to explore the effects
that poor/limited sleep has on your body
and how this can also affect your weight
loss program and ability to get lean,
ripped and lose weight.
Your body weight varies mainly depending on
how much/little food you eat, but there are also
many other variables that can have an indirect
effect on your ability to lose weight and keep it
off. Recent studies have suggested that the less
sleep you get, the more your hormones will be
impacted, significantly affecting how you feel on a
diet, and how well you stick to that diet.
BRAIN FUNCTION
A lack of sleep directly influences your brain
function by setting it up to make bad decisions.
Sleep deprivation, or sleep debt, happens when
you either don’t get enough rest, or a poor night’s
sleep. When this happens, it dulls the activity in
your brain’s frontal lobe, which is the area that
correlates with decision making and impulse
control.
and regulates energy. A lack of sleep equals a lack
of energy causing leptin levels to plummet… this
sends a signal to your brain to eat more food.
This makes things allot more difficult for you than
they need to be when you are following a diet
routine. While slipping on your diet and snacking
on a cookie will not make much of a difference to
your weight loss goals… eating the whole bag will
make a difference. And when you are under slept,
you will not only feel a greater urge to snack; but
you will also have less willpower to be able to stop
yourself.
CHANGES IN FAT CELLS
These hormone changes have a rapid effect on
your body as well, and it doesn’t take much time
at all to see and feel the difference. It only takes
four days of sleep debt for your body to disrupt
your body’s ability to properly use insulin. Insulin
is the hormone that allows your body to use the
energy from food. In fact, insulin sensitivity can
drop as much as 30% in this time period.
Plus, your brain’s reward center becomes
stimulated. Your tired, overworked body is
essentially looking for comfort, and you are more
likely to turn to comfort foods, especially high-
carb, high-fat snacks. Larger portioned meals are
also more likely to be chosen by the tired mind. When insulin is functioning correctly, your fat
cells function properly as well, and remove
fatty acids and lipids from your bloodstream to
prevent fat storage. As you tire, and become
more insulin resistant, these fatty tissues circulate
in your blood and store themselves in places like
your liver- which leads to weight gain and diseases
like diabetes.
HUNGER HORMONES SABOTAGE GYM TIME
Rest is like a meal for your brain, and the average
adult needs between 7 and 9 hours each night
to function properly. Without it, the hormones
that regulate both hunger and fullness are
compromised and are unable to send the
m