Sleep

Are You Getting Too Much Sleep?
Are you one of those people who likes to brag that you get by on very little sleep? Or do you love to sleep the day away? I've told you before that too little sleep can mess up your weigh-loss efforts, but did you also know that sleeping too much can also negatively affect your metabolism as well?
If you sleep 10 hours a night, you might face some of the same hormonal risks as those who sleep too little. A recent Canadian study found that people who sleep fewer than seven hours or more than nine hours weigh an average of four more pounds (and had wider waists) than people who sleep eight hours every night. Researchers believe that having too much or too little sleep interferes with your ability to control your appetite, because it simultaneously increases hunger hormone ghrelin while it decreases satisfaction hormone leptin.
Want to be sure you are getting all the benefits of a good night sleep? Get your rest! Shoot for a consistent eight hours of sleep and stick with the same bed time and wake-up time each day — even on the weekends!

Stress and Sleep

Perhaps one of the biggest causes and symptoms of the hormonal shutdown from stress is when people start to cut into their hours of quality sleep. The percentage of young adults sleeping eight to nine hours per night has almost been cut in half in the past 50 years, from 40 percent in 1960 to 23 percent in 2002. During the same time period, the incidence of obesity has nearly doubled. Coincidence?