(07-10-12) Sufficient sleep is essential to fuel weight loss efforts

by John Phillip

(NaturalNews) We all understand the importance of sleeping seven to nine hours
each night to allow for adequate cellular housekeeping, as the body metabolizes
and synthesizes enzymes and proteins that are critical to our survival. In the
past, a sound sleep has been shown to lower incidence of heart disease,
diabetes and dementia in direct relationship to the number of hours slept each
evening.

Canadian researchers publishing the Canadian Medical Association Journal have
released the result of a study showing that adequate sleep is an important part
of a weight loss plan and should be added to the recommended mix of diet and
exercise. In addition to lowering caloric intake and increasing physical
activity, the research team led by Dr. Jean-Phillippe Chaput of the Children's
Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute in Ottawa has provided
sufficient evidence to show that inadequate sleep is an independent risk factor
for overweight and obesity.

Scientists determined that lack of sleep increases the stimulus to consume
more food and increases appetite-regulating hormones. Dr. Chaput explained "The
solution to weight loss is not as simple as eat less, move more, sleep more...
however, an accumulating body of evidence suggests that sleeping habits should
not be overlooked when prescribing a weight-reduction program to a patient with
obesity."

Seven to nine hours of sleep are needed daily to aid weight loss efforts
Many different factors affect body weight including predisposition to handling
stress, depression and genetic individuality. Adequate and sound sleep can
improve or eliminate each of these risk factors, and can also regulate the
hormones leptin and ghrelin to lower food cravings and naturally promote a
normal weight range. Naturally, reducing or eliminating insulin-producing
processed carbohydrate foods and cutting sugar from the diet are necessary to
stimulate weight loss in many people.

The authors of this study did not provide an exact mechanism to explain how
adequate sleep assists weight loss, but they did explain that a lack of sleep
affects the parts of the brain that control pleasure eating. Further, the
scientists indicate that levels of the hormones leptin, ghrelin, cortisol and
orexin, all of which are involved in appetite or eating, are affected by lack
of sleep.

Dr. Chaput concluded "An accumulating body of evidence suggests that sleeping
habits should not be overlooked when prescribing a weight-reduction program to
a patient with obesity." Continuing research studies validate the critical
importance of a sound night's sleep of between seven and nine hours each night
to protect against chronic disease and to aid weight management efforts.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120917123926.htm
http://www.calgaryherald.com
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-09/cmaj-ash091112.php

News

---

In evidenza

"L'informazione presente nel sito serve a migliorare, e non a sostituire, il rapporto medico-paziente."

Per coloro che hanno problemi di salute si consiglia di consultare sempre il proprio medico curante.