Sleep Soundly to Eat Smarter
KEY POINTS:
1. Sleep affects what and how much you eat. The worse you sleep, the more likely you are to go for that unhealthy snack. This is because sleep helps regulate the amount of leptin and ghrelin in your body, which are the hormones that control and manage your appetite and satiety.
2. People who sleep less than six hours per night have almost double the risk of obesity compared to those who sleep six hours or more. Lack of sleep also disrupts insulin metabolism, which can lead to Type 2 diabetes.
3. Sleeping well helps us to manage our appetite, avoid cravings for sugar and high fat foods, and improve our body composition.
We are in the midst of a worldwide obesity epidemic. We are also sleeping less than we ever have in history. Amazingly, those two problems are connected. People who sleep less than six hours per night have almost double the risk of obesity compared to those who sleep six hours or more. The Canadian Obesity Network recently added sleep as one of its top recommendations.
Sleep helps regulate the amount of leptin and ghrelin in your body. Those are hormones that help to control and manage your appetite and satiety. So if you sleep better, you’re better able to avoid cravings for sugar and high fat foods.
But wait, there’s more!
Lack of sleep also disrupts insulin metabolism, which can lead to Type 2 diabetes. Recent research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine by Dr. Matthew Brady and his team showed that after four nights of sleeping four and a half hours each night, the fat cells of the participants acted like the cells of people with full-blown Type 2 diabetes. What that means is that the fat cells became insensitive to insulin. Total body insulin response decreased 16% and fat cell response decreased 30%.
The bottom line: only a short period of sleeplessness changes the metabolism of your cells – as if you have Type 2 diabetes. That’s really not good.
Slow down, do less, sleep more – it’s not only possible, it’s a requirement of a high-performance life. Sleeping well will help you manage your appetite and improve your body composition (more muscle, less fat).
This Week’s Exercise: Be Consistent
Now that you have logged your sleep patterns for the past week, you should have a good idea of how long you sleep and when you normally go to bed and wake up. The next step is to try to be as consistent as possible! Try your best to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day and see how that impacts how you feel the next day.
You can continue using the Sleep Soundly Scorecard to track your sleep and wake times. You can fill in a new week on page 20 of The The Ripple Effect Workbook.
Bonus Content
Here is an interesting recipe by Dr. Mike Breus that you can try if you're having issues falling asleep. The key is in the banana peel as this increases seratonin levels in your brain which help you to fall asleep.
BANANA TEA
1. Take 1 whole banana and wash thoroughly.
2. Cut off the tip and stem (but leave the peel on).
3. Cut the banana in half lengthways and keep the fruit inside.
4. Boil 3-4 cups of water and add the banana.
5. Boil for 5 minutes and then let cool.
6. Pour the liquid only into a cup.
7. Add honey and cinnamon to taste.
Enjoy!
The information and advice provided in this program is intended to assist you with improving your performance, as well as your general health. It is not intended and should not be used in place of advice from your own physician or for treatment or diagnosis of any specific health issue. By participating in this program you acknowledge that undertaking any new health, diet and/or exercise regime involves certain inherent risks, that you assume such risks, and that you release Wells Performance Inc. from any responsibility or claim relating to such participation.