Today’s Tip: Sleep
Researchers have concluded that the amount of sleep one gets relates
directly to one’s size.
‘With our go-go-go lives, we often skimp on sleep in order to
squeeze everything in. "Studies show that the duration of sleep in our
population has been decreasing over the last 30 years to the point where we're
falling short by more than an hour a night," says Eric Ravussin, Ph.D., a
professor at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana.
One recent study from Case Western Reserve University found
that, on average, women who sleep for five hours or less a night are 32 percent
more likely to put on pounds and 15 percent more likely to be obese than those
who get at least seven hours.
Another study from Laval University in Canada shows that even
more sleep is beneficial. Researchers tracked almost 750 people for 10 years
and found that women who slept for six to seven hours a night were 11 pounds
plumper than those who snoozed for seven to eight hours. Plus, previous studies
suggest there's an association between less sleep and greater food intake.
Four things you can do now to get your 40 winks tonight for a
more healthy weight loss:
·
Go to bed earlier -At first it may seem hard to fall asleep before your normal
time, but after about a week your body will get used to it and you should start
to feel tired.
·
Eliminate caffeine at least four hours before going to bed; it takes time for its
stimulant effect to wear off. Ditto for alcohol: While it may make you
feel drowsy at first, it can disrupt sleep even after it's processed and
eliminated by the body.
·
Get up and go to bed at the same time every day (even on weekends)
so your sleep schedule is consistent and your body knows what to expect.
·
Calm down before turning in -Take a warm bath or listen to soft
music. Most people need a two- to three-hour buffer zone to relax between the
active part of their day and bedtime.’
