How does improved sleep help weight loss?

 

I hope you're going well, have you asked yourself if you're okay? Do it now, see how you feel...

We're looking at the…

Top 10 Reasons to start the next Weight Loss Challenge

which kicks off on 12th July, just in time for the end of lockdown*

If 1 of these reasons hits your next goal, then it's time to sign-up!

On the last blog we looked at the Work Life Balance, if you missed that one, check out the blog here.

Reason Number 2 for joining our challenge is to:

Improve Sleep

We all can't get enough of it, but the majority of us also don't give ourselves enough it. Improving your sleep, is the difference of a quick fix diet, to changing your health habits for life!

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We're going to start with our recommended further reading, which is the Number 1, Why we sleep by Matthew Walker, PhD.

Matthew Walker has (almost frighteningly) enlightened the world to the fact that,

Less sleep = Shorter lifespan!

I'll let him feel you in on the real nitty gritty, but a few things you may want to consider for now:

Your Brain - you need sleep after learning in order to hit the save button on new memories but, you also need sleep before learning. Without sleep, the memory circuits of the brain become logged and you can't take in any new data. Hence why sleep is also correlated to Alzheimer's and Dementia.

Your Immune System - Natural Killer cells are the cells in the body that fight off cancerous or disease infected cells. A recent study found that sleep restricted to 4-hours for just one night, reduced natural killer cells by 70%! Now just imagine what lack of sleep could be doing to reduce your ability to fight off even the common cold!

Weight Loss: Short sleep (anything under 7-8hours, 7-days/week) will increase hunger and appetite, compromise impulse control within the brain, increase food consumption (especially of high-calorie foods), decrease feelings of food satisfaction after eating, and prevent effective weight loss when dieting.

So you say, this is all depressingly true, however that doesn't help me sleep any better at night! Why am I not sleeping?

Factors can include:

  • Alcohol

  • Caffeine

  • Regularity

  • Digital screens

  • Poor sleep environment

  • Under supplemented

Again, this might all sounds great. But where do you even start in managing all these things!

During the Weight Loss Challenge, we're going to give you the support and tools that will help:

  • Create a sleep routine

  • Reduce your caffeine intake

  • Use muscles so that the body is ready for sleep

  • Reduce your sugar intake

You're not going to do this alone. The beauty of the challenge is that you're on the journey with so many others tackling the same things. It is our place not to judge, but to support and lead you in the right direction.

 
Weight Loss ChallengeKelly Richardson