Day 2 Handling the Holidays Series
Sleep: It’s the secret weapon you never knew about.
Sleep should be a priority as much as your nutrition and exercise schedule when it comes to your health goals. Inadequate sleep (less than 7-8 hours per night) decreases concentrations of the hormone leptin and increases levels of the hormone ghrelin. This is an unfortunate case of double jeopardy. Leptin signals a sense of feeling full. Ghrelin tells our body it’s time to eat. So decrease in leptin says to our body “I’m not satisfied” and increase in ghrelin says “I’m really hungry.” You end up not feeling satisfied by the same amount of food that normally would satisfy you on a well rested day (the effect of low leptin). You also end up with stronger cravings and a surprising desire to eat more often (the effect of high ghrelin).
Getting sufficient sleep is paramount to balancing our hunger hormones. Commit to a bedtime during the holidays based on your required wake up time and stick to it. Primarily we are not getting enough sleep (as a nation) due to just not putting ourselves to bed on time. We stay up late watching TV, scrolling social media, or reading. Except in the case of clinical insomnia, most Americans can get more sleep if they simply value it more by going to bed at the right time. More detailed blog post about sleep coming soon!
Tomorrow we’ll look at the feeling driving that holiday food consumption!
Questions? Book a free strategy session with me!
