How too much stress and not enough sleep effect your weight loss efforts

Many people don’t realize stress and sleep play a role Maybe a bigger role than you think So HOW and WHY?

Hormones Adrenaline Instant energy, doesn’t last long CRH Decreases appetite…doesn’t last long Cortisol It’s job is to help the body replenish after stress cause-weight-gain

Cortisol Continued… Hangs around a long time Good for physical danger… bad for other stressors Leads to visceral fat storage Storage around the organs in the abdomen, “bad fat” Fuel needed during fight or flight response is carbs, so you crave simple carbs cause-weight-gain

Emotionally Anxiety Discomfort Food is comforting Mindless Eating Boredom Distracted cause-weight-gain

Mentally You reach for food to keep awake Often caffeine Or sugary/ carby foods- rarely healthy choices Unable to sleep at night- too wound up Sleepy the next day… and the cycle continues sleepiness-10/lack-of-sleep-weight-gain

Physically Lack of sleep= metabolism to not function properly Need about 7.5 hours of sleep More won’t make you drop weight If you are currently getting less, you can start to lose when you get sleepiness-10/lack-of-sleep-weight-gain

Hormonally Leptin Tells you you’re full Ghrelin Tells you to eat Lack of sleep releases more ghrelin and less leptin Also, your metabolism isn’t functioning properly from lack of sleep sleepiness-10/lack-of-sleep-weight-gain

You are too stressed and can’t get enough sleep… so there is nothing you can do about it right? NO

Stress Exercise! Decreases stress Do something you enjoy doing so it doesn’t cause stress Balanced diet Relaxation time Meditation Avoid caffeine Take vitamins cause-weight-gain?page=4

Sleep Get good quality sleep Avoid caffeine Exercise- but not right before bed Avoid big meals before sleeping Getting enough GOOD sleep and still feeling tired? Talk to a specialist sleepiness-10/lack-of-sleep-weight-gain?page=2

Any Questions?