Sleep Better to Lose Weight?

Can you lose weight if you just manage to sleep better? It sounds too good to be true—but recent research indicates that there is a definite connection between how much you weigh, and the amount of undisturbed sleep you get per night.

Two of your natural hormones, ghrelin and leptin, help control your appetite. When you don’t get enough rest, levels of ghrelin rise increase your hunger, while levels of leptin, which promote feelings of fullness, decrease. A study published in Psychoneuroendocrinology reported a significant disruption of nighttime ghrelin levels in chronic insomniacs and restless sleepers.

According to the study, this hormone imbalance leads people to experience an increase in appetite during the day, and weight gain over time.

In addition to creating a ghrelin and leptin imbalance , sleep deprivation or disturbances also cause higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which increases cravings for high-carb, high-calorie “comfort foods.”

Furthermore, the brain secretes growth hormone (HGH) during the deep-sleep phase, helping the body convert fat to fuel. AND Without enough deep sleep, fat begins to accumulate. This goes against any attempt to lose weight. To lose weight, you must learn to control your stress — and this, in turn, also leads to improved sleep.

Sleep expert Michael Breus, clinical director of the sleep division at Southwest Spine and Sports in Scottsdale, Arizona, says that there is no magic number of hours people should sleep, but that the average adult needs about five 90-minute sleep cycles per night — so 7.5 hours seems optimal as a minimum.

But simply getting under the covers is probably not a sufficient strategy to achieve long-term weight loss, Breus says.

Woman Loses Weight After Imaginary Surgery

A British woman has lost 56 pounds after being hypnotised into believing she had a gastric  stomach band inserted to reduce her desire and ability to consume food.

A hypnotherapist convinced the 35 year old woman that  she had undergone surgery to fit the band by talking her through the surgical procedure while in a trance. Hospital smells were even pumped into the room to boost the effect.

The woman, who has slimmed from 156  to 117 pounds, said: ” I can even ‘remember’ being wheeled into theatre, the clink of the surgeon’s knife and smell of the anaesthetic.”

Afterwards the imaginary surgery she felt her stomach had tightened, and she felt full  on just a very small portion of food. She  is losing about 3lbs a week, and her dress size has plummeted from size 22 to 14 in only four months.

But you also need to read this shocking report about WHY we are all getting fat – and it has very little to do with how we eat or exercise, click here.

Source: The Mirror