Lose Weight In Your Sleep

Lose Weight In Your Sleep

Do you feel that you need to lose weight? Well then don’t
just count calories. You might want to count sheep as well.

Recent studies have shown that sleep deprivation disrupts a
series of metabolism and hormonal processes. It causes
increased hunger and affects the body’s metabolism making it
difficult to lose and control weight.

Lack of sleep causes a hormone called cortisol, which
controls the appetite, to take excess calories and store
them as excess body fat. In addition, sleep loss interferes
with carbohydrate metabolism which may cause high blood
glucose levels. The excess amount of glucose encourages the
overproduction of insulin, which may lead to diabetes or
even obesity.

Furthermore, sleep deprivation can promote weight gain by
affecting our behavior. People who lack sleep tended to
crave sweets or high carbohydrate, high fat food with low
nutrient value. They tend to snack on chips, cakes,
pastries, burgers, fries, soft drinks, etc. Though the
short-term rise in blood sugar, brought on by these snacks,
gives a surge of energy, the extra calories are not needed
by the body and must be stored as body fat.

These calories are not so easily shed than taken. When they
are sleep deprived, people are often too tired to exercise
or they work out less intensely than usual. They commonly
feel exhausted and lack the energy and motivation to do even
simple exercises. They rather go to sleep, or eat, than go
physical. In due time, the calories that are gained and not
easily burned are deposited in the body as fat.

Some people may require less hours of sleep to be in top
condition during the day; while others need more than 10
hours. But experts agree that most people need at least
eight hours of sleep each night to give themselves enough
energy to exercise, eat right and keep off those unwanted
pounds. Yet, according to a poll sponsored by the National
Sleep Foundation, only 30 percent of adults get eight or
more hours of sleep on weeknights; while 52 percent do on
weekends. A third of adults reportedly sleep no more than
six-and-a-half hours nightly.

In fact, disruption in the sleeping patterns in the United
States and in the industrialized world is thought as one of
the main reasons that people are getting overweight. People
should start making behavioral and lifestyle changes now for
a better, healthier tomorrow.

Cholesterol The Good The Bad and The Ugly

Cholesterol The Good The Bad and The Ugly

In today’s world, almost everything is free… not that
everything has no price. It just seems that we have reached
the era where we become more aware of our health conditions.
Thus, it seems to be the era of everything that is -free.
Try scanning every available product in your local grocery
and you will see what I mean.

Your bread is bromate-free; your yoghurt is fat-free; your
cooking oil is cholesterol-free; your canned soup is
preservative-free; and the list goes on and on. Now you are
beginning to wonder about the next -free commodity that you
would encounter.

This is not exactly bad. In fact, health experts encourage
us to be more sensitive about the foods we eat and the
nutrients that we get from them. However, not everything
that is –free is healthy. Our bodies need certain
substances to be able to function well.

Let us take a look at cholesterol for instance.

Very simply defined, cholesterol is a fatty substance that
occurs naturally in the blood, cell walls, and most body
tissues. Cholesterol is made by the liver, and it enters the
body via foods rich in saturated fat. There are two types
of cholesterol; these are what they termed as the good and
bad cholesterol. Like the literary split personality of
Jekyll and Hyde, it has a good side because it is needed for
certain important body functions. But for many people,
cholesterol also has an evil side. When present in excessive
amounts, it can injure blood vessels, cause heart attacks,
and stroke.

Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) is the "bad" cholesterol.

This is the form in which cholesterol is carried into the
blood and is the main cause of harmful fatty buildup in
arteries. The higher the LDL cholesterol levels in the
blood, the greater the heart disease risk. On the other
hand, High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) is the “good”
cholesterol.

This "good" cholesterol carries blood cholesterol back to
the liver, where it can be eliminated. HDL helps prevent a
cholesterol buildup in blood vessels. Low HDL levels
increase heart disease risk.

So before you go into your cholesterol deprivation program,
remember that cholesterol is essential for human life. It
builds and repairs cells, it is used to produce sex hormones
like estrogen and testosterone, it is converted to bile
acids to help you digest food and it is found in large
amounts in brain and nerve tissue.

Cholesterol The Good The Bad and The Ugly

Weight Loss-10 Things to avoid "Like the plague"

10 Things to avoid "Like the plague" when trying to lose
weight

Dieting is not always easy. In fact, it can prove a tough
challenge for many people. So here’s a little guide to
avoiding things that could make you lose control and start
eating. Avoid them like plague if you wish to succeed.

1. Don’t rush into the toughest diet you can find.

This is a common mistake. Many people decide in a moment of
desperation to follow a super-strict diet and fail. Don’t
rush into a diet that may be too strict for you. If you
don’t have any dieting experience and are not 100 percent
sure you can stick with the diet, then choose something
else.

2. Don’t lose touch with reality.

You can’t realistically expect things to happen over night.
When choosing your goal, start small, but be prepared to go
far. If you hear someone saying that he lost a large number
of pounds in a short time, don’t make it your goal to match
his performance. Diet results are different from one person
to another.

3. Don’t go to the gym too often

Another common mistake is to use the enthusiasm of the first
days to hit the gym every day. This won’t help you at all.
Your body needs time to heal and expand the muscle mass
after each training session and going to the gym every day
interferes with this natural process. Besides, a week of
non-stop training could never offset ten or twenty years of
couch potato lifestyle.

4. Don’t get hard on calories.

We all know that cutting down on calories is one of the
building blocks of all diets, but you have to be careful
about it. Cut down on too many calories and your body will
start storing anything it possibly can. This is not a good
way to lose weight.

5. Don’t skip meals.

Some people think that skipping one or two meals could help
them lose weight faster. They don’t understand that dieting
is all about eating the right food and not starving
yourself.

6. Don’t check the bathroom scales everyday.

Everybody is eager to see the confirmation of his or her
efforts in the shape of lost pounds, but you should not let
this drive you to checking your weight everyday. The daily
fluctuations of your weight will soon have you depressed and
ready to quit dieting. And this is something you want to
avoid.

7. Don’t let emotions drive you.

Aside from the eagerness that drives people to check their
weight every day, there are other emotions that influence
dieting. If you know you’re used to reaching out for
ice-cream or snacks when you are bored, frustrated or angry,
then you should deal with these issues and not allow them to
come between you and your purpose.

8. Don’t refuse to seek help.

Not everyone was born with iron will and nerves of steel. If
you need advice or help, don’t hesitate to ask it from your
friends or from professionals. Don’t try to solve all
problems by yourself.

9. Don’t deny yourself your favourite foods.

Treats are a great way of raising your willpower and
determination. Diets are just food control methods, not
prisons. So what if you eat something forbidden once in a
while, especially if that food is a favourite of yours? If
such treats are not frequent, then they will make no
difference in the long run.

10. Don’t rely on your willpower alone

Use your head as well. If you wish to know how much you eat,
then write everything down and analyze the list for things
that should not be there. Sometimes hunger creeps up on you
and make you eat something you shouldn’t. Be honest with
yourself and keep a clear head.

Exercise Can Really Improve Your Life

Exercise Can Really Improve Your Life


The Benefits of Regular Exercise

Everybody knows that keeping yourself fit and partaking in
regular exercise is good for you, but do you really know the
full benefits of regular exercise?

The 7 Most Common Benefits

There are plenty of benefits when it comes to partaking in
regular exercise but some of the most common ones include:

Various Serious Health Benefits

Regular exercise can really help to cut the risk of
developing serious illnesses such as Diabetes Type II and
Heart Disease.

Heart Disease can be brought on by lack of exercise due to
the extra strain that is placed on the heart by the extra
fat that is stored throughout the body.

The heart has to beat twice as hard as it would normally and
that puts a lot of pressure onto it and that is when Heart
Disease occurs.


Diabetes Type II is commonly brought on by obesity and most
people who have the condition

are overweight. So, by partaking in regular exercise, you
are lowering your chances of

developing serious conditions such as the ones mentioned.

It Keeps Weight Down

This is an obvious one but it is certainly the main one
which most people exercise for.

Regular exercise burns off excess calories and keeps the
body’s weight down to an ideal

target and that keeps the body healthy generally. It also
helps to keep the body looking a

lot better too by toning up the muscles and keeping the skin
firm.

It Helps With Stress

Most people are stressed these days but the good news is
that regular exercise can help.

Exercising releases feel good hormones and that really does
help to stop the body from

feeling stressed. It gives you something else to focus your
attention on which stops you

from thinking about whatever it was that got you stressed in
the first place therefore once

you have finished your mind is calm and relaxed.

It Helps You Sleep

If you are having problems sleeping, exercise may be the
answer. Yoga and Pilates are

especially good exercises for aiding sleep. The exercise
tires out the body and helps to

relax the mind which therefore helps when it comes to
bedtime. Most people who have

sleeping troubles are having them because they have not
tired their brain out enough or

switched off, but exercise will help them to do that.

It Helps You to Live Longer

Exercise helps you to live longer according to research. It
keeps the heart pumping

healthily and it prevents various health problems from
occurring. This means that you do

stay healthier for longer and you are more likely to outlive
somebody who does not partake

in any exercise whatsoever.

Keeps The Heart and Blood Healthier

Regular exercise helps to keep the heart and blood healthier
which therefore helps to keep

the circulatory system healthy. This can really help with
breathing and it will also help

to keep any toxins out of the body. Clean blood and a
healthy heart keep you healthier for

longer and it will also give you a lot of energy too.

Keeps Skin Healthy

Finally, exercise keeps the skin looking younger and
healthier for longer. It tones the

body and keeps the skin firmer which is what makes the skin
looking younger for longer. It

also gives you a glowing complexion and that will make you
happier all around.

So, as you can see there are plenty of benefits from regular
exercise which means that

there is no excuse not to take part in it!

The preceeding was an article from Weight Loss Research.

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