How Sleep Affects Weight Loss

Yeah, sleep is kind of a boring subject but a super important one when it comes to your health.
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It doesn't boost your ego when you rock out a solid 8 hours of sleep compared to bench pressing a new personal best.  Although... after being a new parent I do get pretty excited after a good nights sleep.  

Photos that you post to Instagram of you sleeping just aren't as attractive as a picture of the pretty salad you ate at the local cafe.  ​

​You take your pick...

Let's be honest there is nothing fun, glamorous or sexy about sleep.  I'm talking about sleep, not what happens before you sleep.  ;)  Sleep is crucial to your health.  Here are just a few facts about sleep.  

• Those who do not get an adequate amount of sleep are 50% more likely to be obese. In a study of 635,000 people, adults who did not get enough sleep were 50% more likely to be obese.  Now, here’s the really scary part… Children who did not get enough sleep were 90% more likely to be obese!
• People who get more than 7 hours of sleep per night are more likely to succeed in losing weight.  Another study showed that those who got more than 7 hours each night not only had better sleep quality, but they were also 33% more likely to succeed in losing weight.
• Sleep deprivation causes your body to hold on to fat tissue and lose muscle.  In a recent weight loss study, those who cut calories and slept less than 5.5 hours each night lost 55% less body fat and 60% more lean body mass than those who got 8.5 hours of sleep.
• A lack of sleep stimulates your appetite.  Inadequate amounts of sleep actually affect the part of your brain that controls your appetite and pleasure eating.  Too little sleep decreases levels of the hormone Leptin, which signals the brain that you are full.  And, it increases levels of Ghrelin, a hormone which stimulates your appetite.  This means you will feel more of an urge to eat and less satisfied when you do.

*Information from studies conducted by Canadian Medical Association Journal.
I'm a huge fan of the following book if you need to work on your sleep, Sleep Smarter: 21 Proven Tips to Sleep Your Way To a Better Body, Better Health, and Bigger Success.  Shawn does a great job of laying out some easy to implement strategies to upgrade your sleep environment and quality.