According to scientific researchers, we need to get enough sleep to lose weight and keep it off for good… That’s 7 – 9 hours per night ladies! Get that sleep and rewards you will reap!
WHY?
1) Research shows that if you lack sleep, you make more ghrelin (a hormone that makes us hungry, stimulates our appetites). So people who lack sleep are HUNGRIER!
2) The body’s stress levels increase when you don’t get enough sleep and when you’re stressed you secrete more cortisol (stress hormone). Increased cortisol levels cause you to store more fat around the middle section… BELLY FAT.
3) Sleep deprivation not only makes us stressed, we’re also more likely to be depressed, grumpy, less optimistic… Perfect candidates for some emotional eating! And when you’re exhausted, it’s harder to control your impulses… “Huge bag of potato chips??? Yeah why not!”
4) The longer you stay up, the more time you have to squeeze in an extra snack or two or three… This is especially the case if you are watching TV. One study showed that people who stay up late at night to watch TV tended to eat 500 calories more per day (of high calorie foods) when compared to early sleepers / early risers.
The bottom line is… GET SOME SLEEP!
I’m staying up to write this article for you, so I’m going to take my own advice and I’m going to go to sleep too!
I’m here rooting for you!