MY HAPPY ME {com}

Hi! I hope you all had a great summer :) We surely did and now can’t wait to start blogging away. And while some of us experience clear links between food cravings and yoga, my fall started with clear evidence on how lack of sleep negatively affects my diet and wellbeing.

It was a super busy August-September for me with a major move, lots of air travel, new job, new home, old friends who I didn’t see for almost 2 years! Anybody can relate to being busy and we all have our own reasons for that. But one thing is probably common for most of us – to tick off other priorities we often sacrifice our sleep time, right?

Well, if you are struggling with weight loss or food cravings this is the first thing to notice – do you get enough sleep? A study found that dieters who get less than 8 hours of sleep daily, loose more muscle mass than fat.  In addition, people who don’t get enough sleep are more likely to have bigger appetites due to the fact that their leptin levels (leptin is an appetite regulating hormone) fall, promoting appetite increase. Moreover, psychological manifestation of fatigue, sleep and hunger are similar. Thus, when you’re feeling sleepy you might feel like you need to head for the fridge instead of bed (especially in situations when bed isn’t an option!).

Daytime sleepiness and lack of energy makes it difficult to commit to your diet and exercise program; therefore, if you are serious about succeeding in your weight loss and maintenance program, sleep is important.  If you rely on caffeine to make up for lack of sleep, you can face a vicious cycle: the more coffee you drink, the harder it becomes to fall asleep and get a good night’s rest.

And finally, sleep regulates mood and lack of sleep promotes emotional overeating – this is when we reach for comfort foods. By the way, I made my own observation and found that when I don’t get enough sleep, I reach for carbs – breads, pasta, and lots of it!

To summarize, sleep affects what you do, how you feel, how you look and in what colours you see the world around you.  Pay attention to the link between sleep, mood, diet and excersize and notice anything “funny”. Chances are good sleep will make your road to good fitness, healthy eating and general wellbeing much easier.

Sweet dreams everyone!