4 Ways Sleep Impacts Weight: You Absolutely Need to Care.

Are you aware of any of the ways sleep impacts weight? The holiday season can be tough to keep your weight under control and poor sleep habits don’t help. There is simply more food around. We tend to cook more ourselves and then people tend to gift food as well. There are more people to see and things to do. All of the hustle and bustle creates more stress and less time for a good night’s sleep.

The CDC instructs adults between the ages of eighteen and sixty to sleep seven hours a night. Without sleeping this amount regularly, you may unknowingly increase your chances of obesity and other related life-threatening health conditions. Not getting adequate sleep can actually encourage weight gain.

Clean Living Tip

Making sure you are not sleep deprived can be especially difficult during the holiday season. Here are four ways your sleep can affect your weight and what to do to fix it:

Lack of Sleep Leads to Increased Hunger for High Calorie Foods

When you aren’t getting enough sleep, your body is tired, and it tries to find ways to give itself more energy. One way is to increase your hunger drive to get more nutrition in.

But, of course, your body will crave the most highly caloric foods it can. It doesn’t know the difference between a French fry and a green bean.

That is where you come in to make the responsible choice. If you are tired then you are less likely to make the right one.

Fix #1: Don’t let weight gain happen simply because you are eating instead getting good quality sleep.

Sleep Deprivation Destroys Metabolism

Your body repairs and resets itself during a full night of sleep. Did you know that it takes a minimum of 7 hours for your body to go through all its necessary processes to function properly?

If you cut this short, you may avoid having your liver cleaned, or your brain reset for the new day. It’s no different than restarting your computer. You need it to ensure your metabolism and other functions of your body work properly.

Fix #2: Make sure your sleep duration is long enough to allow your body to recharge for the next day.

Poor Sleep Leads to Lack of Physical Activity

If you’re tired all the time, it’s hard to motivate yourself to go for that walk. Even if it is only 21 minutes of your time, it seems impossible.

The more sedentary you are, the less likely you are to be at a healthy weight. Also, the more chances you will have to suffer from diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.

Some form of regular exercise is also good for your mental health. Don’t sit down with that iced coffee until you’ve gotten moving at least for 15 min.

Fix #3: Don’t settle for poor sleep. Get a full night’s sleep so you feel like moving the next day.

Insufficient Sleep Can Lead to Weight Gain

When you’re not well-rested, your ability to say no is going to be cut down to almost nothing. Your body then starts getting hunger signals from your brain, but since it’s in survival mode, it seeks energy from the easiest source and will send out cravings for stuff like fatty, sugary coffee drinks to try to help.

Unfortunately, this will only make it worse. Even though you probably have more to do during the holidays than other times of the year, it’s even more important to not allow yourself to become sleep deprived.

Fix #4: Get enough sleep you control your food intake. Not the other way around.

Make a Good Night’s Rest a Priority

Do you really need to do more if you don’t have time to live a healthy life that considers all your needs as a human? Your family would rather you be healthy and well-rested than for you to stay up all night stressing about making the holiday perfect since perfection isn’t even possible.

Try to develop a regular sleep schedule and then stick to it.

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