We're all very busy right now - taking care of the holidays, dealing with end-of-the-year rush, trying to eat right and fit in exercise with all of that. Wouldn't it be lovely if there were something as restful, as comforting as sleep that would also help us keep fit?
Well, it turns out that sleep itself may be as important as all of those active ways of staying healthy. But first, the WHEE intro:
WHEE (Weight, Health, Eating and Exercise) is a community support diary for Kossacks who are currently or planning to start losing, gaining or maintaining their weight through diet and exercise or fitness. Any supportive comments, suggestions or positive distractions are appreciated. If you are working on your weight or fitness, please -- join us! You can also click the WHEE tag to view all diary posts.
If you'd like to see why taking time to sleep doesn't mean you're a slug-a-bed but instead truly serious about fitness, join me over the fold!
The Dream Diet: Losing Weight While You Sleep
Can more sleep really help us control our weight? Three top experts explore the possibilities.
"One of the more interesting ideas that has been smoldering and is now gaining momentum is the appreciation of the fact that sleep and sleep disruption do remarkable things to the body -- including possibly influencing our weight," says David Rapoport, MD, associate professor and director of the Sleep Medicine Program at the New York University School of Medicine in New York City.
While doctors have long known that many hormones are affected by sleep, Rapoport says it wasn't until recently that appetite entered the picture. What brought it into focus, he says, was research on the hormones leptin and ghrelin. First, doctors say that both can influence our appetite. And studies show that production of both may be influenced by how much or how little we sleep.
In fact, have you ever experienced a sleepless night followed by a day when no matter what you ate you never felt full or satisfied? If so, then you have experienced the workings of leptin and ghrelin.
This kitteh is working on her fitness!
Lose Weight With a Good Night's Sleep?
Sleepers Getting Less Than 6 Hours of Sleep a Night Tended to Be Heavier Than Longer Sleepers in Study
The small study, presented at the American Thoracic Society’s International Conference in San Diego, was conducted with 14 nurses at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Nurses received counseling on nutrition, exercise, stress management, and sleep improvement through the program.
The participants wore armbands that measured total activity, body temperature, body position, and other indicators of rest and activity.
The average BMI for short sleepers was 28.3. That compares to an average BMI of 24.5 for long sleepers. The BMI range for normal weight is considered to be 18.5-24.9 and for overweight 25.0-29.9. BMI is calculated from a person's weight and height and is an indicator of body fat.
Surprisingly, the overweight participants were significantly more active than their normal-weight peers. The overweight participants took an average of 13,896 steps per day, compared to 11,292 for normal-weight participants. The overweight participants also burned nearly 1,000 more calories per day on average than their normal-weight peers.
This kitteh is lowering her cortisol!
Sleep More, Lose Weight
Getting Enough Snooze Time May Be The Best Diet Secret of All
These findings, presented at the 2006 American Thoracic Society International Conference, showed that women who slept 5 hours per night were 32% more likely to experience major weight gain (an increase of 33 pounds or more) and 15% more likely to become obese over the course of the 16-year study, compared to those who slept 7 hours a night.
Those women who slept 6 hours per night were still 12% more likely to experience major weight gain, and 6% more likely to become obese, compared to women who slept 7 hours a night.
This is the largest study to track the effects of sleep habits on weight gain over time; it included nearly 70,000 middle-aged women.
The women were first monitored in 1986, and they reported their weight every 2 years for 16 years. At the start of the study, the women who slept 5 hours or less per night weighed an average of 5.4 pounds more than those sleeping 7 hours. They also gained an additional 1.6 pounds more over the next 10 years. While that doesn't sound like a significant amount, it adds up. That's 16 pounds in 10 years, and 32 pounds over a 20-year period.
Inadequate sleep:
* interferes with the body's ability to metabolize carbohydrates and causes high blood levels of glucose, which leads to higher insulin levels and greater body-fat storage.
* drives down leptin levels, which causes the body to crave carbohydrates.
* reduces levels of growth hormone--a protein that helps regulate the body's proportions of fat and muscle.
* can lead to insulin resistance and contribute to increased risk of diabetes
* can increase blood pressure
* can increase the risk of heart disease
Want to Lose Weight? Get Some Sleep
Getting enough shuteye can help you get slim
Sleep Affects Hormones
The body's hormones have a 24-hour rhythm, says Joyce Walsleben, PhD, director of the Sleep Disorder Center at the New York University School of Medicine, and author of A Woman's Guide to Sleep: Guaranteed Solutions for a Good Night's Rest. "When you disrupt sleep, you disrupt your hormones," she says. "You become glucose intolerant, you want to eat more, and you don't metabolize what you eat as well."
This hormonal disruption can lead not only to weight gain, Walsleben says, but also to an increased risk of developing diabetes.
"When we're young, we think we can get by on little -- or even no -- sleep at all," says Walsleben. "That's just not true. We all have to plan our life around getting enough sleep."
There are 10 main reasons why you may not be sleeping well, says Walsleben:
* Stress or anxiety
* Illness
* Noise
* Light
* An over committed schedule
* Caffeine
* Alcohol
* Stimulant medications (such as diet pills, cold and allergy remedies, asthma medications)
* Depression or anger
* Fear
She goes on to offer excellent advice on getting more and better sleep.
Maybe sleep is not an issue for you. Maybe you're one of the minority of Americans who gets seven hours of sleep every day already. But if you're not, if you've been trimming away at sleep to fit in other things or if you've had trouble sleeping as much as you would like to, maybe this is the time to reconsider sleep and make it a priority along with eating and exercise. For folks with serious insomnia, I can't recommend the book Say Good Night to Insomnia highly enough - it cured me after over a decade of insomnia.
As the French say, Qui dort, dine, or He who sleeps, eats!
Scheduled WHEE diaries
Please think about volunteering for a diary. It can serious or light hearted, it can your own experiences or science - anything that is a spring board to living well with a focus on fitness.
December 3
Thurs PM - Wee Mama
December 4
Fri AM - ScottyUrb
Fri PM - ???
December 5
Sat AM - 1864 House
Sat PM - Edward Spurlock (Kessler, Ch. 29)
December 6
Sun AM - ???
Sun PM - Holiday Fit Club - kismet
December 7
Mon AM - NC Dem (A look at your butt...I mean glutes)
Mon PM - ???
December 8
Tues AM - ???
Tues PM -- Clio2 (Kessler, Ch. 30)
December 9
Weds AM - ???
Weds PM - Edward Spurlock
December 10
Thurs AM - ???
Thurs PM - ???