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| Does losing sleep mean weight gain? | Breathing
Exercises/Deep Breathing | How Much Sleep Is Enough? |
Does losing sleep mean weight
gain?
Lack of Sleep May Be Linked to Obesity, Two New Studies Report
In addition to fruitcake, eggnog and
alcohol, sleeplessness can be added to the list of factors that may cause you to
pack on a few pounds this holiday season.
Researchers from the University of Chicago and Stanford University have
completed two studies that show lack of sleep causes changes in hormones that
result in increased appetite and weight gain.
Scientists were amazed to find that hormone levels can be affected after as
few as two nights of poor sleep, triggering alterations in the brain's chemistry
that increase appetite.
These findings have been greeted with enthusiasm from sleep and diet experts,
who consider them potentially groundbreaking in terms of changing the way they
counsel patients on obesity.
"There is no question when you look at these two studies, we are definitely
onto something," said Dr. Emmanuel Mignot, who headed the Stanford study. "What
it should tell people is that those who are considering losing weight should
think of healthy sleeping habits in the same sentence as healthy eating habits
and good exercise habits."
Two Studies, One Conclusion
The two studies used different approaches to arrive at the same
conclusion.
The group from Chicago, led by Eve Van Cauter, asked a small group of men in
their 20s to restrict their sleep to four hours for two consecutive nights. They
were then allowed to sleep for 10 hours the next two nights.
Van Cauter found not only that the men had a 24 percent greater appetite
after the two nights of sleep deprivation, but they specifically craved
high-sugar, high-salt and starchy foods.
In addition, analysis of their blood after the two nights of poor sleep found
lower levels of leptin, a hormone that suppresses appetite, and higher levels of
ghrelin, a hormone that triggers hunger.
Mignot's group looked at the sleep patterns of more than 1,000 individuals
from Wisconsin and found that the less people slept, the higher their body mass
index, a value that is often used to measure body fat. Results show that
individuals who sleep less than eight hours a night on average are heavier than
those who get a full night's rest.
The researchers also found that patients who averaged five or fewer hours of
sleep per night had the same changes in leptin and ghrelin as those in the
Chicago study.
Mignot found there were no significant differences between males and females
in the way sleeplessness affected hormone levels or body weight.
Breathing Exercise, Deep Breathing Exercises, Relaxation
In this day and age deep
breathing exercises can help with weight loss, relaxation, and sense of well
being. Most of us are not breathing properly by breathing air up into our chest.
Look at yourself in the mirror. Your lungs hang all the way down toward the
bottom of your rib cage. More than likely, you're not filling them up with the
precious air they need. Most of us inflate just the upper portion.
Simply lay down totally flat on
your bed, your couch, or floor. Relax for a second or two before taking a deep
breath. Now breathe in deep through your nose. Push your belly up while taking
the air inside. Stick your chin on your chest and watch your belly rise. When
you've got as much air as you can hold, stop and hold your breath. Try holding
it for ten or twenty seconds. If you're like most people, you're dying to let it
out at the end of the twenty seconds. Go ahead. Pitiful isn't it?
Not only that, but did you feel
your lungs stretching out? You don't feel that very often do you? It feels good
and bad at the same time, right? That's because you're not used to it. Try it a
couple of more times. It gets easier each time, right? That's the beauty of
re-training yourself to breathe properly and when you implement some easy
breathing exercises you will feel the difference. Don't you feel relaxed and
refreshed at the same time? Your body is saying thank you, thank you! Just that
very tiny bit of deep breathing and your body feels better. An immediate
reaction.
Now think of this. That extra
oxygen you gifted your body with is now moving through your bloodstream,
slightly increasing your flow, and getting rid of excess waste and fat. All that
in a matter of seconds! Keep lying on the floor, bed, or couch, and practice a
little more. Get used to how deep breathing feels. Close your eyes and sense the
rhythm of the deep breath you're taking. Memorize it.
Keep practicing for 5 more
minutes. Now sit up. Again, try to accomplish the same deep breath while sitting
up. Sit up straight. Start breathing in through your nose -then slowly stick
your chin on top of your chest and watch your belly inflate with air. This may
be a little harder because you might unconsciously revert back to shallow
breathing. You'll know that this is true if your belly isn't inflating and you
feel all the air in your lungs high in your chest. Don't give up. Concentrate on
inflating your belly. Once filled as much as possible, hold it for twenty
seconds and release through your mouth. You must practice this technique a few
times to get used to it.
So by now, you should have a real
sense of how to breathe deep. Now what? Take a day or two and just practice the
technique. Learn how your body feels. Memorize the actual process of taking in,
holding, and releasing all that extra oxygen. After a day or two of practice,
you're ready for your daily workout.
What's all this have to do with
your program? Plenty! Think about it... Oxygen is fuel for your body as is food.
There are no calories in oxygen. You can breathe in all you want for as long as
you want and still no calories! Not only that, but the extra oxygen you take in
will cause the chemical reactions in your body to take place much faster, thus,
you burn more calories than you take in. This in turn speeds up your metabolism
and makes you burn more fat. Also, by having good blood flow your body is more
able to assimilate vitamins/minerals/amino acids, and other nutrients.
How Much Sleep Is Enough?
This varies from individual to individual. The amount of sleep that's right
for you is that amount which enables you to feel wide-awake, alert, and
energetic throughout the day. For most adults, this ranges between 7-9 hours,
although some can feel awake and energetic on as little as 4-5 hours of sleep
per night.
Researchers have discovered that normal, restful sleep in human beings
consists of four patterns of brain activity called stages. Stages 1 and 2 are
considered to be "light" stages of sleep, and they typically predominate in the
early part of the cycle. Stages 3 and 4 are deeper, more restful periods, and
they tend to dominate in the latter half of sleep.
All four stages come and go many times during the night. Transient awakenings
usually occurs during stage 1 sleep. Most dreaming occurs during stage 4, which
is also known as REM (rapid eye movement) sleep.
If the normal pattern of alternating stages is disturbed, sleep may not be
fully restorative. Thus, it not only matters how many hours of sleep you get ,
but the quality of those hours and the sequence of sleep stages in your brain
also play a role as well.
When our bodies are deprived of sleep at night, we generally feel tired the
next day. If sleep deprivation continues, our bodies try to make up for the
deficit by causing us to sleep longer at night.
KEY POINTS:
- The amount of sleep that's right for you is the amount that enables you to
feel awake, alert, and energetic throughout the day.
- Normal sleep in human beings consists of four distinct patterns (called
stages) of brain wave activity.
- All four stages come and go many times during the night.
Changes In Sleep With Age
There is a well-known increase in sleep problems with age. As we get older,
the frequency of nocturnal awakenings increases (remember, most people don't
recall these brief awakenings). Changes in brain activity during sleep also
occur . Stage 3 deep sleep progressively declines with age, while stage 4 (REM)
sleep is relatively unaffected.
Another reason why sleep problems increase with age is that our biological
clocks tend to change over time. These specialized brain cells located in the
suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus (a small region near the pituitary
gland of the brain) control daily variations in our sleep-wake cycles.
As we previously discussed, the biological clock for most human beings cycles
slightly longer than 24 hours. This is why it is easier for most people to go to
bed late (since the body's sleep time is normally slightly delayed), than it is
to wake up early. This also explains the problem of "jet lag," since our body's
biologic rhythms become further out of synch with the social clock of the
traveler's destination.
NOTE: Our biologic clocks also depend upon a certain amount
of daylight exposure to maintain their regulating function. This is a problem
for people living above the Arctic circle, where insomnia during the dark
periods of winter develops in 20-35% of the population.
As we get older, our biologic clocks gradually change. Typically, their cycle
length shortens, often falling below 24 hours. This means we tend to fall asleep
earlier and wake up earlier as we age. This, in turn, may lead to increased
sleepiness during the day, and more daytime naps may be required.
NOTE: Similar, but opposite, biologic clock alterations
often happen in young people around the age of adolescence. Their biologic
clocks tend to lengthen beyond 25 hours, causing them to not get tired until
very late at night (or early A.M.) and have trouble waking up at "normal" hours
in the morning.
Thus, the changes that occur in sleep patterns with age make us more
susceptible to sleep deprivation and insomnia. There is no truth to the myth
that older people sleep less during the night because they "need less sleep."
They sleep less because their ability to sleep has been biologically impaired,
due to changes in brain functions that are beyond their direct control.
KEY POINTS:
- As we get older, the frequency of nocturnal awakenings increases.
- Changes in brain activity during sleep also occur with age.
- In additions, our biologic clock cycles shorten to less than 24 hours,
causing us to fall asleep earlier and wake up earlier with increasing age.
- There is no truth to the myth that older people sleep less during the
night because they "need less sleep." They sleep less because their biologic
ability to sleep becomes impaired.
How To Approach Any Sleep-Related Problem
The first step to approaching any sleep-related problem is to ask yourself
the following questions:
- When, specifically, did the problem begin?
- Is the problem mainly with getting to sleep, staying asleep, or both?
(Early morning awakening, for example, is commonly associated with stress or
depression.)
- Did the onset correspond with any unusual medical problem, psychological
problem or stressful life event?
- Did the onset correspond with any other significant change, such as
starting or stopping a prescription or OTC medication?
- Is sleep O.K. in other environments--hotel, hospital, another room in your
house? (If so, secondary psychological factors such as fear, worry,
performance anxiety, etc. are probably involved.)
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