Metabolism, Mood, and Memory – What healthy habit is a keystone for all of these?

It is also one of my top tips for FAT LOSS! As an integrative health coach, I teach my clients and The Fit Soul Tribe members the importance of sleep.  I consider it a non-negotiable healthy habit and encourage my clients to create a healthy sleep routine.

I recently had the opportunity to interview Christina P. Parker – a clinical psychology Ph.D. student, specializing in aging and health – on this topic. You can check out my interview with her, “Why Weight? Go to Sleep!” in the video below.

 

Here are 5 reasons you should go to SLEEP! Because when you snooze, you really do lose – weight!

TIP 1. MORE TIME AWAKE MEANS MORE TIME TO EAT

The longer you stay up, the more opportunities you have to eat. Those who sleep 2 hours less per day consumed almost 600 additional calories per day. Those who sleep 7-9 hours per day eat 120 calories less per day.

TIP 2. We make poor food choices, particularly with processed foods and sweets. 

The energy your body doesn’t get from sleeping, it seeks in eating calorically-dense, highly palatable foods. (saturated fats, processed food  and sweets)

TIP 3. Hormone Regulation. Reduces leptin (satiety hormone). Increases Grehlin (the hunger hormone). Increases cortisol levels (stress hormones).

Under-sleeping may deregulate two key opposing hormones in appetite regulation: leptin, an appetite-suppressant (anorexogenic), and ghrelin, an appetite-simulant (orexigenic).  Sleep deprivation may also drive hypercortisolemia and other forms of systemic inflammation implicated in cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and impulsive behaviors, such as emotional eating.

TIP 4. We behave more impulsively with insufficient sleep and leads to poor food choices. 

Impulsivity can lead to poor food choices, and thus, weight gain.

TIP 5. Fatigue depletes our motivation to exercise hard and to cook.

Daytime fatigue secondary to insufficient or poor sleep can hijack our motivation to engage in healthy behaviors, including preparing our own meals, initiating, and/or maintaining physical activities. 

 

Click Here to read Christina’s full blog post on sleep and your health.

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Christina Pierpaoli Parker, MA, is a fifth-year graduate student in the Clinical Geropsychology doctoral program at the University of Alabama.  Her work has been published in the Journals of Aging & Health, Sex & Marital Therapy, and The Clinical Gerontologist and presented at international conferences.