Can You Sleep Your Way Out Of Yo Yo Dieting?

January 19, 2008

Boy, am I glad we got that straightened out!

I never dreamed people would get so excited about the acid/ base concept. But I guess I should have known – after all, it can have a huge impact on your health.

We also heard from at least one Grandma who feels vindicated for making her kids finish their broccoli all those years. Turns out she really did know what was good for them!

Well, today we’re going to tackle a subject that’s sure to be less controversial. In fact, I think it’s going to be pretty welcome news!

I wonder, if you ever thought that spending an extra hour in bed could be part of your weight loss plan – and no, I’m not talking about that.

It actually turns out that the amount of sleep you get each night significantly affects your weight.

There have been a whole bunch of studies on the subject. But the most important findings show that not getting enough sleep affects your glycemic response. It makes you more sensitive to the foods that spike your blood sugar, which means you could have even more glucose in your blood – and that glucose, if not used, will be stored as fat.

Other studies have shown that getting less sleep (specifically 4 hours per night) caused people to feel always hungry and crave starchy, sweet, and salty foods.

So not getting enough sleep can lead to higher blood sugar levels, and cause you to crave unhealthy foods. But even that’s not all.

Yet another study conducted only on women found that there was a direct relationship between how much sleep the women got and their BMI (BMI = Body Mass Index, the measurement sometimes used to tell how overweight you are for your height). The less sleep each woman got on an average night, the more likely she was to be obese.

So can we simply sleep more and expect to lose the weight? It’d be nice, wouldn’t it?

But no, we both know that’s not the case.

What these studies do tell us, though, is that getting enough sleep is important to our weight loss efforts. If you don't sleep enough, you'll just be making it more difficult for yourself to lose the extra weight.

And we’ve already agreed that this is the year we’re going to do what it takes to be successful. So we can surely find a way to give ourselves enough time to sleep every night.

Turn off the TV and go to bed earlier – with the writer’s strike, there’s nothing good on, anyway. Certainly nothing worth sabotaging your weight loss efforts over.

According to William Dement, Stanford University sleep researcher, adults need about 8 hours of sleep a night. So Today’s Action Plan is to do whatever it takes to make sure you’re getting those 8 hours every night.

Some ways to help yourself sleep better include cutting back on caffeine, relaxing before bed with a hot bath or some aromatherapy, and keeping your bedroom quiet, dark and comfortable.

You know, there are a thousand different habits that go into an overall healthy lifestyle. I think we’ve seen that over the last couple of weeks. From keeping our blood sugar in check, to having faith in our dreams, to balancing the acid and base response to our foods, to getting enough sleep…

We’ve seen that sustained, healthy weight loss is the sum of a multitude of small decisions we make every day.

Which is just one reason why the so-called “solutions” offered up by the weight loss industry nearly always fail.

But we want you to be equipped with the tools you need to succeed – once and for all. Which is why Dr. Scott and I are working so hard to get our Weight Loss Web Summit ready to go in just 3 short days.

We’re going to be revealing information and strategies just like the ones you’ve read from us over the past two weeks. Strategies that work. Only we’re going to have a lot more to say, and give a lot more detail.

Time is seriously running out. We’re not kidding when we say there will be no more registrations after Noon on Monday. If you don’t sign up by then, you’ll miss it.

So, for (almost) the last time, here's the link to find out more and reserve your spot.