Sleep, beautiful sleep....

We're in the middle of a health & weight loss challenge at work. This week during the weigh ins, one of my coworkers came in telling me that she knew she was going to be heavier (or at least no lighter) than when she had come for her first weigh-in the week before. She expected this because she had not been able to get her exercise time in as regularly as she knew she wanted and added to that, had not been as attentive to her diet as she knew she would need to be in order to get weight loss results. When she got on the scale however - she was 3 pounds lighter! How did this happen? We talked about what had been different that week, reviewed the fact that we had taken measurements at exactly the same time the week before and that there had been nothing unusual about the week before either. What HAD been different though - she had been getting noticeably more sleep! I'm convinced that for so many people, getting sufficient sleep is really critical to weight management. Sufficient sleep (7-9 hours a night for most adults - closer to 9 hours for those who are very physically active) provides several body composition benefits:

1) Sleep actually changes your body's ability to use fat - in 1 study, two groups of people on the same diet, had dramatically different fat loss results when comparing sleep patterns. Closer to 9 hours of sleep led to higher levels of fat loss!

2) Not getting enough sleep results in you eating more and craving sugary/fatty foods in order to supply the extra energy your body needs due to lack of sleep.

3) Lack of sleep makes you less inclined to get physical activity in - when your body feels sleep deprived, your energy levels are lower and the motivation to "work out" decreases substantially.

The end result - getting sufficient sleep may be the best kept secret weapon when looking for fat loss!

Read more about some of the research on sleep's benefits here: https://www.shape.com/lifestyle/mind-and-body/why-sleep-no-1-most-important-thing-better-body