Sleep 1 Extra Hour, Lose 10lbs – Really

Glamour magazine recently put 7 of their readers, who were sleeping an average of 6.5 hours per night, on a strict diet of 8 hours of sleep per night for 10 weeks, and all of their guinea pigs reported weight loss – without having to change what they ate, or the amount they exercised.

A doctor swore to the editors that he could prove that getting enough sleep does help people burn fat, and here are the results:

The women also reported having less cravings, more energy, seeing flatter stomachs and seeing their love handles shrink.

It has to do in part with the hormones that are (or aren’t) produced in your sleep – the more your body clock is disrupted, the more these hormones are impeded of doing their jobs.

Less sleep means an increase of gherlin, the hormone that makes one want to eat more. It also means a drop in leptin, the hormone that gives us the signal to stop eating when full. Also, during sleep, our brains secrete a significant amount of growth hormone which helps our body break down fat for fuel. If there’s not enough, our bodies store the extra fat.

Give it a shot – you have nothing to lose, except for a few pounds.

Read the full article here.

Sources:

• Michael Breus, Ph.D.
• Steven Lamm, M.D.
• Photo by Isabel Watson