Having Trouble Losing Weight? Check Your Sleep Patterns!

More and more info has been reaching the fitness industry about the effects of proper sleep on weight loss.

Most new clients that we see that are struggling to lose weight have poor sleep patterns, along with other lifestyle habits that need changing.

Your body needs proper deep sleep to function. If you are struggling to lose weight, check your sleep patterns!

Check out these statistics on sleep patterns;

1) On average we sleep 1-2 hours less per night than 40 years ago

2) Helsinki Health Study 2010 - short sleep (less than 5 hours per day) associated with major weight gain in women

3) Mice exposed to light at night tend to eat more at night and gain more weight, even if total calories are the same as placebo mice.

4) Quebec en Forme project - short sleep duration is the STRONGEST predictor of overweight and obesity in adults and children. More than inactivity, TV watching, alcohol intake, income and education, parental obesity. (Chaput et al, Obesity 2009)

5) Even acute periods of short sleep are associated with increased caloric intake...

*One night of 4hrs of sleep in young men resulted in +559 kcal intake over the following day vs. 8 hrs sleep.
(Brandel et al, Am J Clin Nutr 2010)

6) Increasing sleep also associated with reduced fat gain in adult short sleepers (< 6 hrs/day) over 6 years...

*Increase from 6 to 7.5 hrs/night = 2.4kg less fat mass gained vs. those who maintained short sleep.
(Chaput et al, Int J Obes 2011)