Tag Archive | Sleep

Sleep Deprivation Plays a Role in Food Addiction

Feb12

Why is it so hard for women to lose weight, and so easy to gain “emotional weight”? Well, it has a lot to do with hormones. And sleep.

If you don’t get enough sleep, you will have a problem with two very important hormores: Leptin and Ghrelin.

Leptin makes you feel satisfied. It’s the shutoff valve that tells your brain you’re not hungry anymore. Ghrelin, on the other hand, stimulates hunger.

Our physical bodies live on energy. When the body is hungry, it needs food. Food gives energy. When the body is tired, it needs sleep. Sleep gives energy, too.

Sleep allows the body to recuperate from the stress of the day. When you go for days without sufficient sleep, hormones become imbalanced and brain signals get mixed up.

The body needs energy, plain and simple. Sleep deprivation, the prolonged absence of deep healing sleep, puts an incredible amount of strain on the body.

Energy is in motion all the time, inflow and outflow. If the body can’t get the energy it needs from one source, it will get it from another.

When you have too much Ghrelin in your system due to a consistent lack of sleep, you will feel real hunger and crave food, while not being able to satisfy your appetite, no matter how much you eat.

That’s because the body doesn’t want food. It wants sleep.

There are hormones in your body you probably have never heard of. When our hormones are all in balance, there are no blood sugar problems, no hunger, no stress, no food addictions, and no destructive emotions.

Nothing takes the place of sleep. No anxiety drug will do the trick, and it doesn’t matter if “it’s not your fault”. It’s not anybody’s fault, It’s just how things work.

You need the energy you get from sleep, and lowering your Ghrelin levels will help you lose fat and maintain a healthier lifestyle.

Recently, I have begun to stop evaluating my day at night. Instead, I evaluate it the following morning when I am much clearer and more prepared to take action, rather than allowing the process to disturb my sleep.

I practice recognizing when I am tired. As bedtime nears, the moment I feel tired, I close up whatever I am doing, run a hot bath and prepare for bed.

This small ritual has allowed me to sleep for five and sometimes even six uninterrupted hours on some nights–not every night, but more often than before.

My health is improving and the fat is gradually disappearing. It kind of gives the phrase, “sleeping it off” a whole new meaning.

It’s Never Too Late to Be Great!

Overeating at Bedtime

Jan2

I don’t know why but it seems that even as adults, some of us just don’t want to go to bed, no matter how tired we are. Maybe it’s what bedtime represents–the end of a day that we don’t want to end.

Even on the most unproductive of days, it’s hard to say good-night and call it a day. And what better way to avoid going to bed than by eating?

Evenings can get lonely. When you’ve had a great day but have no one to share it with, food is often the substitute. Whether you are an emotional eater, a person with a food addiction, or just a regular person who doesn’t want the day to be over, night time eating can be a menace.

For one person, it could be that extra five pounds–I wish. For me, it’s that extra twenty-five pounds, and for someone else, it might be an extra fifty or more pounds. Being overweight is a problem for many people, and it doesn’t matter how much extra weight we’re carrying.

Overeating at bedtime is a big mistake. It’s a real temptation. Even when we go the entire day without binging, craving or faltering, when darkness falls, the comfort of food beckons.

Of course, the simplest thing is just to go to bed when you’re tired. Let the day be what it is, have a cup of tea, or take a nice bath, read a book. Relax for an hour and embrace sleep.

Sleep rejuvenates the body in a way that nothing else can. Make sleep a priority if you want to take the weight off and keep it off. Yes, it’s true, especially for food addicts.

A food addiction will not make you skinny like some other addictions may, but you’ll miss the problems that inevitably accompany other addictions .

Tonight, the remedy is simple. Get some sleep. When you’re sleeping, you’re not eating. And more importantly, you are re-charging your batteries. All that renewable energy will help you burn fat.

So go to bed already. No more food for the night, just sweet dreams. They have no calories.

Fatigue Can Intensify Emotional Eating

Nov10

One surefire way to sabotage your position in the battle with food addiction is to not get enough sleep. Everyone performs better when they have had a good night’s sleep.

Sleep is something most people take for granted. It is a time for the body to renew and rejuvenate after the stress of everyday living.

Emotions are high when stress builds up. Resting the body helps to return the harmony and balance that stress takes away.

Unfortunately, there is not always enough time for sleep. Sometimes the stress keeps us from feeling tired or relaxed enough to fall asleep. And that presents a problem.

Going without enough sleep night after night creates an environment of fatigue that can spell disaster for someone with a food addiction or any problem with emotional eating.

Being a confirmed insomniac, I know what it feels like to go for days without sleep. Sleep deprivation places a stress on the body that cannot be relieved with a drug or a nap.

The kind of fatigue that is caused by sleepless nights is enduring, and sometimes it takes everything you have just to get through the day.

When the body is awake for long periods it craves energy and it will take whatever source is available. If sleep isn’t on the menu, then food will do just fine.

When fatigue is added to an already stressful day, emotions undermine the best of plans. The body will do what it has to do to survive.

While fatigue may not be a trigger for a food addiction, emotional eating is another story. People who eat when they are upset or even happy may eat even more when they are exhausted.

Get a good night’s sleep. Don’t stay up long enough to get your second wind. Go to bed when you are tired, unless you’re at work, and your chances for a good night’s sleep will increase greatly.

Think about what your body wants. If it wants food, feed it. If it wants rest, then give it sleep. The more in tune we are with our bodies, the less likely we are to have food addictions and problems with emotional eating.

Good night. Sleep tight. Don’t let the bed bugs bite.

Food For Thought

Nov4

Today was a very long day, and not as productive as I would have liked. I felt more fatigued than usual, even though I slept no more or less than I do most nights.

I seemed more easily agitated than I normally am. There was too much activity with few opportunities to rest.

I was less hungry but ate more of the foods I usually avoid. While I got all 22 items on my “to do” list completed, none of them seemed relevant to the accomplishment of my goals.

In reflection, today I had no feelings about food addictions yet I embraced mine feeling nothing. How can something so powerfully overwhelming one day feel like nothing the next?

Perhaps the answer will come to me during sleep when my body has a chance to realign itself and regain its state of balance.

So much goes on beneath the surface and yet we have all the answers inside. It is up to us to ask the questions that will allow us to sidestep the conscious mind and reveal the truth in our hearts.