Do you feel frenetic about getting things done in your life?
Are you working crazy hours?
Do you feel rested when you get up in the morning?
Sleep is a time of intense cellular renewal. If you are not getting the rest you need, then your internal organs are depleted.
What can you do to improve the amount and quality of your rest?
Does that mean not letting the ping of your cell phone wake you up?
Does it mean going to bed an hour earlier?
Does it mean no coffee late in the day so you can get to sleep earlier?
Sleep is more important than we actually think, it can really change the way you look….and not just by getting rid of those baggy eyes! By getting enough sleep we can actually lose a higher percentage of body fat than if we didn’t sleep that much.
A recent study looked at people who slept 8-8.5 hours a night vs people who slept for about 5 hours a night. The participants had the exact same diet, calories, carbs, protein, and fats. The participants were studied for 3 months and the results were staggering! During the study ALL participants lost 6.6lbs!
Out of the 6.6lbs lost the group who slept 8 hours a night lost 50% fat and 50% lean mass (body fat weight from total body weight) the participants who slept 5 hours a night lost 20% fat and 80% lean mass!
Let me break this down for you, the group who didn’t sleep as long lost 80% lean mass which means they lost the majority of their weight muscle tissue!
When we lose muscle we in turn lower our metabolism, that’s NOT a good thing! The more muscle we have the higher our metabolism will be and the higher percentage of fat we are able to burn and utilize as energy!
Now with any study we need to take this with a grain of salt, you can still lose “good” weight by not sleeping 8 hours a night, and you can also gain weight by sleeping a lot.
Smiles, Jasmine