Sleep Your Way Slim

     Strange as it may sound, getting a good night抯 sleep every night has a huge effect on your weight. That抯 right -- quality sleep has a bearing both on your body抯 tendency to resist weight gain and your ability to stick to a weight loss plan. So you really do need to develop good sleep patterns to achieve the slimness you抮e looking for.

And this isn抰 just some out-there idea. Studies looking at the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and hours of sleep have found that people who sleep less than 7 hours a night are likely to have a higher BMI than those who sleep more. With people who sleep less than 6 hours the BMI goes up again, and with less than 5 hours sleep it抯 even higher!

One reason is that being tired during the day affects your eating habits. Not only can you misinterpret lack of sleep for hunger, but you抮e also more likely to make poor decisions about your food choices. You know how easy it is, when you抮e not feeling on top of things, to reach for the nearest donut that comes your way.

Bad sleeping patterns play havoc with your metabolism too. You抣l know this only too well if you抮e up all night with a young baby, or have to work shifts, or your sleep is poor for any other reason.

Obviously, some of these things (like having a baby) can抰 be changed, and in the shorter term that抯 not such a problem. You抣l just have to go through that phase in your life -- we can all deal with bad sleep for a short while. But if, like doing shift work, you抮e stuck in this pattern for a long period of time, you should seriously consider how you can change this -- as in changing your job.

And by the way, being overweight can in itself lead to poor sleep. This might be because your weight makes you snore heavily, or feel uncomfortable, or because your metabolism isn抰 functioning well. So there抯 a vicious circle going on whereby being overweight leads to bad sleep, which leads to being overweight, and so on.

I抦 sure you know, low-grade sleep is bad for your health overall. It leads to lack of concentration, mood swings, feeling out of control, and lack of ability to make decisions. And this is also going to affect the people around you, including your loved ones and co-workers. If, on top of this you抮e overweight, and likely depressed by that, it抣l affect your relationships even more.

So if your poor sleep isn抰 because of a particular lifestyle but is simply due to the fact you find it hard to sleep period, you抣l have to start looking at ways you can deal with it. Clearly there are various sleeping pills you can get either from the doctor or over the counter. But these are generally addictive and don抰 provide a long term solution.

A natural relaxant which calms your mind to prepare it for sleep is Valerian root. This isn抰 addictive and can be taken reasonably regularly. You can get it in tablet or tea form -- though the tea doesn抰 taste too great. However, a word of caution: Valerian does produce side effects in some people. Headaches, nausea and upset stomach can occur, so you may be one of the unlucky ones who can抰 use it.

Camomile tea is another remedy for poor sleep that some people swear by. And there are a whole host of sleep-inducing hypnosis audios on the market, which can be extremely effective. In the end, you抣l have to do a bit of searching around to find the method or combination of methods that work for you.

But if you抮e serious about losing weight and you know your sleep patterns aren抰 too good, you really will have to face up to this aspect of your weight loss plan. If you don抰, you抮e just sabotaging your efforts.

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