Tag Archive for 'sleep'

Study says get more sleep to lose weight

Published on December 14, 2010 in Health and Wellness. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

A new study seems to suggest that cutting a lot of calories won’t do you any good if you don’t get enough sleep, because you won’t be losing the right kind. This new study, which was published recently online in the Annals of Internal Medicine, indicates that reducing your sleep from 8.5 hours to 5.5 hours can make you less able to lose fat.

In the study, ten overweight dieters who reduced their calories by 10 percent, lost a substantial amount of weight – but the kind of weight they lost was different depending on how long they slept.

More than half of the weight lost was fat for dieters who had a complete night’s worth of sleep, but only one-fourth of the weight lost was fat when the researchers took three hours off their sleep. This revealed that 75  percent that was burned was nonfat mass like protein, important building blocks of muscle and other vital body tissues.

You may wonder, how could this happen? Well the researchers think that it’s because of the way sleep levels affect the levels of ghrelin, which is a hormone that stimulates hunger and supports fat retention. These are definitely two symptoms that you want to avoid if you are trying to lose weight. The authors wrote that “sleep loss amplifies these ghrelin-associated changes. Thus, the increased loss of fat-free body mass during the short-sleep condition of our study may be due to increased conversion of body protein into glucose to support the more prolonged metabolic needs of the waking brain and other glucose-dependent tissues.”

Since all the dieters stuck to the same calories during the study, keeping the sleep-deprived from giving in to their hunger pains, the experiment may even reveal less negative effects of sleeplessness than in reality.

So what can we learn from this? Lighten up on the work if you can and record that late night movie so you can get your much needed sleep. It is definitely the easiest way to combat those unwanted pounds.

Lack of sleep is killing us

Published on June 10, 2009 in Health and Wellness. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

A new National Sleep Foundation poll reveals that Americans are sleeping less than ever before. There are many reasons for this, from worrying about the economy or having sleep apnea, to simply going to bed too late and getting up too early. Mark Opp, a professor at the University of Michigan and senior writer of a recent sleep study, said that we could be killing ourselves by sleeping less.

So why is sleep so necessary? The National Institutes of Health say that we need sleep to think and react quickly. Research has shown that brains that are well-rested are much better at problem solving, while other studies revealed that lack of sleep can cause people to make bad decisions and take on more risks.

The Harvard Nurses’ Health Study has reported that insignificant or irregular sleep may cause an increased risk for colon cancer, breast cancer, heart disease or diabetes. Other research groups throughout the country have also found evidence that insufficient sleep  affects important hormones and proteins that have a part in these diseases.

The National Sleep Foundation reports that just 28 percent of Americans regularly get eight hours of sleep. This is down from 38 percent in 2001. It was also found that 2 in 10 sleep less than six hours a night.

It is estimated by the National Institutes of Health that around 70 million Americans are troubled by a chronic sleep disorder or intermittent sleep problem.

Sleep Savvy Magazine says that if it takes you less than 5 minutes to fall asleep at night, you might be sleep-deprived. Ideally, it should take you 10-15 minutes to fall asleep at night – tired enough to fall asleep at night but not sleepy during the day.

Mark Opp says that we are staying up later and working longer hours. Many of us have to commute to work. Because of all this, we are sleeping less than what our biological need calls for. It is getting clearer from many large studies, that our lack of sleep is becoming harmful to our health.

Here are some tips for more better sleep:

1. Try to maintain a regular bedtime and wake-up schedule, even on the weekends or on vacation.

2. Create a regular, relaxing bedtime regimen, like taking a relaxing bath, and then reading or listening to calming music.

3. Foster an atmosphere that is favorable to sleeping where it is dark, cool, quiet and comfortable.

4. Make sure your mattress and pillows are comfortable.

5. Stop eating 2-3 hours before you go to bed.

6. Get regular exercise. Exercising in the late afternoon can help you fall asleep better at night.

7. Try to avoid alcohol, caffeine and nicotine close to bedtime.

Get kids to bed earlier, to ward off obesity

Published on May 10, 2009 in Health and Wellness. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Everyone knows that diet and exercise are very effective ways to keep childhood obesity at bay. The latest research indicates that getting kids to go to bed earlier can help too. A study done by the University of Montreal showed that more than 25% of children who slept less than 10 hours a night were overweight by age 6, as compared to 15% who got 10 hours of sleep and only 10% who slept 11 hours. The difference may be from an increase in the production of a hormone that triggers appetite and a decrease in the hormone that decreases food intake – both resulting from loss of sleep. The good news for adults is that similar results were found in them as well.

Also, researchers in a Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center study found that kids who are overweight are possibly at an increased risk for chronic headaches. It was found that as kids lost weight, they came down with fewer headaches.

So what does a parent need to do? Well, first of all, urge your kids to get active by riding their bikes or getting involved in sports. As long as they are kept busy and active during the day, they’ll definitely be more ready to hit the sack at bedtime. Once they are in the habit of going to bed at a certain hour, they will be more tired and ready to go to bed at that time because their internal clock has changed.

Get plenty of sleep to avoid colds

Published on January 13, 2009 in Health and Wellness. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

sleepSimilar to what your grandmother may have said, getting plenty of sleep may prevent one from getting a cold.

Healthy adults were paid $800 each from researchers to have cold viruses sprayed in their noses. They then waited five days in a hotel while they waited to see if they would get sick. Sleepers that were used to getting eight-hours of sleep at night were shown to be less prone to get sick than those who got less than seven hours or who didn’t sleep well.

Lead author Sheldon Cohen, who studies the health effects of stress at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University, says that the more sleep you get, the better and the less prone you are to get colds.

Past research has indicated that sleep improves immunity at the cell level. This new research is the first to reveal little interruptions raise the threat of getting sick, according to Dr. Michael Irwin, who studies immune response at the University of California, Los Angeles but was not connected with the study.

This study, featured in the Archives of Internal Medicine, exposed test subjects to the rhinovirus, which is a common cold virus. It was found that people in the study that slept less than several hours a night during the weeks prior to being exposed were three times more prone to getting a cold than those who slept for eight or more hours.

In the study, 78 men and 75 women who were of ages 21 to 55 were chosen by researchers. For two weeks, they kept specific tabs on them. Then they moved the participants to a hotel where they ejected the virus into their noses. Five days later, the virus had infected 135 out of the 153 people in the study. This said, only 54 became sick.

It was found that not sleeping well was connected to making the participants more at risk for getting a cold. Those who slept spasmodically more than 8 percent of the time were five times more prone to get sick than those who were not sleeping 2 percent of the time.

Unexpectedly, feeling rested was not connected to staying healthy.