You already know that a good night's rest charges you with enough energy to hit the gym, but research suggests that sleep itself helps you shed pounds-and that skimping on shut-eye sabotages weight loss efforts.In a Case Western Reserve University study of more than 68,000 middle-aged women, those who slept for less than 5 hours each night were 32% more likely to gain 33 pounds or more over the course of the 16-year study, compared to those who got 7 to 8 hours of rest."When people are sleep-deprived, several things happen that can affect one's ability to lose weight," explains clinical psychologist Michael Breus, PhD, a diplomate of the American Board of Sleep Medicine and a fellow of The American Academy of Sleep Medicine. "Metabolism will slow down, appetite will increase, and certain hormones are affected."Consider this your free pass to turn in early and pull the flannel sheets up over your head. Here, we'll walk you through five ways that beauty rest can help you fight fat.You Snooze You Lose:Weight Loss
Lose weight while you sleep. It sounds like something you'd hear on a late night infomercial -- just around the time you are reaching for that bag of cookies because, well, you can't sleep.
But as wild as the idea sounds, substantial medical evidence suggests some fascinating links between sleep and weight. Researchers say that how much you sleep and quite possibility the quality of your sleep may silently orchestrate a symphony of hormonal activity tied to your appetite.
"One of the more interesting ideas that has been smoldering and is now gaining momentum is the appreciation of the fact that sleep and sleep disruption do remarkable things to the body -- including possibly influencing our weight," says David Rapoport, MD, associate professor and director of the Sleep Medicine Program at the New York University School of Medicine in New York City.
While doctors have long known that many hormones are affected by sleep, Rapoport says it wasn't until recently that appetite entered the picture. What brought it into focus, he says, was research on the hormones leptin and ghrelin. First, doctors say that both can influence our appetite. And studies show that production of both may be influenced by how much or how little we sleep.
In fact, have you ever experienced a sleepless night followed by a day when no matter what you ate you never felt full or satisfied? If so, then you have experienced the workings of leptin and ghrelin.
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