I am not exaggerating when I say that sleep is the single biggest factor in your health.
You cannot exercise, meditate, or eat your way out of poor sleep.
Sleep is the foundation for all health.
Every nook and cranny in your body is adversely affected by poor sleep.
During sleep your brain is cleansed of toxins and waste, your body is working hard to heal and repair, and your memories and emotions are organized and transformed for better processing.
Hormones, which can either make or break weight loss, are also heavily dependent on sufficient sleep.
What happens if you don’t get enough sleep?
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
First of all, we tend to favor simple carbs and overeat. (1) Insufficient sleep also causes dysregulation of your metabolism. (2)
And it disrupts the body’s natural circadian rhythm, which can also lead to weight gain. (3)
To add to that, when we are sleep deprived our brain is less capable of making the right eating choices, leading us to desire high-calorie foods. (4)
None of this is good if you are trying to lose or maintain your weight.
Chronic sleep deprivation (less than 7 hours a night) increases the risk for cardiovascular disease (5), type 2 diabetes and obesity (6) poor immune function(7), and it increases overall mortality (8).
It also increases the risk for dementia, as shown by the study referenced below.
Analysis of the data showed that people in their 50s and 60s getting six hours of sleep or less were at greater risk of developing dementia later. Compared to those getting normal sleep (defined as 7 hours), people getting less rest each night were 30% more likely to be diagnosed with dementia.
— NIH Research, April 27, 2021
Now, if that doesn’t convince you to get in bed on time, I don’t know what will!
This is such an important question so I have spent a lot of time thinking, researching, and experimenting with the various ways to improve sleep time and efficiency.
Below are the 6 biggest tips I have found to help with sleep.
If you do all of those things and it doesn’t help then I have a few more ideas that are less well-researched but still valid.
Start with increasing your physical activity. Add a daily morning walk and see if that helps (it has helped many of my clients).
Try reducing blue light exposure at night. Get Flux on your computer. It’s a plugin that changes the lighting on your computer or device to mimic the day’s natural light rhythm. It will even ask you for your time zone.
Add a relaxation routine before bed. Gentle stretching, aromatherapy, a hot bath or shower, prayer or meditation, journaling, and listening to relaxation music are just some of the things you can do to relax your nervous system and get you prepped for sleep.
Studies show that over time, people who are getting six hours of sleep, instead of seven or eight, begin to feel that they’ve adapted to that sleep deprivation — they’ve gotten used to it,” Gehrman says. “But if you look at how they actually do on tests of mental alertness and performance, they continue to go downhill. So there’s a point in sleep deprivation when we lose touch with how impaired we are.
— WebMD (10)
If you are struggling to lose weight and your sleep is IN ANY WAY COMPROMISED (whether by choice or not), I strongly, strongly urge you to begin to explore some of the strategies listed above.
If you would like to chat with me about how the “Work with Your Weight Loss Programs” can help you fall in love with the weight loss journey, please click the link below to schedule a free strategy call.
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