Herbalife International Sites:
 Herbalife Indonesia Herbalife Indonesia Herbalife Hong Kong Herbalife Canada New Zealand Flag USA Flag

Health Article
How Does Sleep Affect Weight Loss?

Can being sleep deprived hinder you from losing weight, or worse still, cause you to actually gain weight? The short answer is - Yes! Most people don’t realise the many health implications of not getting enough sleep.

So, how does sleep deprivation affect your weight loss efforts?

  1. When you’re tired, it is actually much harder to make healthy choices. Whether it's psychology or physiology or a combination of both, it does seem to have an effect. When you get a good night’s sleep, sticking to your regular exercise and healthy eating routine is easy. But when you're sleep deprived, somehow magically chocolate and sugar will now make you feel better, and there will be no consequences! However, it never does. Thta fact is, it actually makes you feel worse. Much worse, because the blood sugar highs and lows makes you more tired and cranky than before eating the sweets.
  2. Warning - Science content! Researchers from several separate studies have found a link between sleep and the hormones that influence our eating behaviour. Two specific hormones are involved. Ghrelin is responsible for feelings of hunger. Leptin tells the brain when it’s time to stop. When you’re sleep deprived, your ghrelin levels increase at the same time that your leptin levels decrease. The result is an increased craving for food and not feeling full (a hormone disaster as far as staying on track with a healthy eating plan). Nothing is worse than craving food and being hungry at the same time.
  3. Your body adjusts itself based on your circadian rhythms and the amount of sunlight outside. Without getting too complicated, these rhythms and light tell your body to physically recover approximately between the hours of 10pm-2am and to mentally recover approximately between 2am-6am. If you aren’t getting to bed until 12am, you are missing out on 2 crucial hours of physical repair. This can result in all sorts of aches and pains that do not get better, no matter what you try.

How are you going to get a good night’s sleep to ensure you are not sabotaging your weight loss efforts? Here are a few tips for getting a good night’s sleep:

  1. Don’t watch Television just before bed. You may not realise how fired up the news or your favourite TV show gets you before bed time. As an alternative grab a book or your favourite magazine and read in bed. This works wonders, especially a good fiction book that will help you forget the day’s events.
  2. Do not drink caffeine drinks late in the day. An afternoon coffee or tea can still be racing through your blood stream at 10pm. Cut out your last caffeinated beverage by noon. This includes all coffee and teas (except herbal teas). Once you catch up on your sleep, you won’t be so dependent on your afternoon caffeine fix.
  3. Avoid Sugar before bed, and as much as possible at other times as well. Consuming sugar right before bed leads to a blood sugar roller coaster ride, potentially waking you up in the middle of the night due to a blood sugar low.
  4. Put your work away before bed. There is nothing worse than a racing mind before bed. Crunching numbers and reading work documents right before bed may lead to dreams about work (or nightmares). End all work at least 2 hours before bed. If this is not possible for you, you may need to reassess your work schedule a bit.

Whatever the adjustments are for you, remember, sleep may just be the missing link in your nutrition, exercise and health regimen. Stick to your meal plan and your shakes and tuck yourself in at 10pm each night and you will be well on your way to fat loss success.