How to sleep away the pounds

Have you ever noticed that you eat more when you're tired?

In addition to a healthy and balanced diet and regular exercise, a restorative night's sleep can help with the battle of the bulge. According to recent studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and the Lancet, lack of sleep can slow down your metabolic function and make it harder to lose weight.

The hormones behind hunger
Scientists have demonstrated that you can help keep your hunger hormones in check by keeping a healthy sleep routine. Two hormones in particular – ghrelin, which is responsible for making you feel hungry, and leptin, which makes you feel full – are affected by your sleep patterns.

When you're sleep deprived, ghrelin levels increase and leptin levels drop, making you feel hungry and increasing your cravings. When faced with cravings, our tendency is to grab highly processed sweet and starchy snacks, which are a one-way ticket to weight gain. And when you're sleep deprived, feelings of fullness are often delayed, which means you're more likely to keep eating even when you've had enough.

The hormone cortisol also appears to be linked to body weight. Stress or sleep deprivation can cause cortisol levels to rise, and your appetite and cravings will rise right along with it. Excessive cortisol has been linked to a surplus storage of fat, specifically around the mid-section – this is a dangerous place for extra pounds as it can put you at higher risk for heart disease, stroke and cancer.

How much sleep do you need?   
In order to keep your hormonal cycle in check, aim for seven to nine hours each night. Think you might be sleep deprived? Ask yourself these questions:

• Do you have difficulty falling asleep?
• Do you wake up a lot during the night?
• Do you wake up too early in the morning and then can’t get back to sleep?
• When you wake up, do you not feel rested?

If you have answered 'yes' to any of these questions, it may be time to re-jig your sleep routine to help you lose those extra pounds.

Page 1 of 2 – on the next page: Learn how to regulate your sleep cycle