You have been kicking your butt working out on the best home gym equipment but aren’t seeing the weight loss results you want. Have you considered that your sleep schedule may be the problem?
Below are six weight loss benefits to embracing a healthy sleep schedule, which may be the keys to you finally dropping those stubborn pounds.
1. Regular Sleep Habits Can Decrease Appetite
There are two key hormones that govern fullness, the hunger hormone ghrelin and leptin, the fullness hormone. When you have enough sleep, your body will produce more leptin naturally, allowing you to feel full sooner and automatically trigger less ghrelin production. This process will help keep you from making diet-busting food choices.
2. A Healthy Sleep Schedule Supports Good Food Choices
Along with being influenced by hormones, your desire for healthy foods is affected by how much sleep you have been enjoying. Our tired brains are inclined to pick the foods which will give us the most energy for the least work, which is usually foods rich in fats, carbs, and sugars.
A healthy sleep schedule allows us to make better choices as our brains aren’t fogged up due to exhaustion and influenced by an overproduction of ghrelin.
3. Good Sleep Habits Provide More Energy For Workouts
When you have a top-notch treadmill like the NordicTrack Commercial 1750, working out can be a breeze and your ability to drop weight increases as you work out. However, being perpetually tired can cut into the energy you meant to dedicate to your treadmill workouts.
By embracing good sleep habits, you can easily boost your energy levels, so you never are too tired for a workout. Between the regular sleep and workout routine, you should be able to see real progress on your health and fitness goals.
4. Balanced Sleep Routines Can Increase Your Metabolism
Depending on your age, height, weight, muscle mass, and gender, you will naturally burn a certain amount of calories while completely at rest, called your resting metabolic rate (RMR). Some researchers noted a drop in RMR when the participants were kept awake.
While not all studies agree that your metabolism is affected by a lack of sleep, enough of them do. So, if you have been wondering how you can boost your metabolism for faster weight loss, try to balance your sleep routine for a healthier amount of sleep.
5. A Regular Sleep Schedule Can Increase Insulin Sensitivity
Insulin resistance is a critical factor in both weight gain and Type 2 diabetes. But when you improve your sleep habits, your cells become more sensitive to insulin. This increased sensitivity tells your body that you don’t need that much insulin produced, which makes your body more efficient at using the energy insulin offers instead of storing it as fat.
Also, with a regular sleep schedule, the less insulin your body produces, which will make you less hungry.
6. Healthy Sleep Habits Stop Late-Night Snacking
It sounds silly, but if you are asleep you won’t be snacking. For many people, they can stick to good dietary habits until the night drags on and suddenly you are halfway through a pint of ice cream.
This late-night snack attack is due in part to increased ghrelin production as you stay up longer and longer. Even if you avoid the snacks, your body will continue to send uncomfortable hunger signals until you go to sleep. So, to give your weight loss a hand, you may want to head to bed on a regular schedule.
By just implementing one healthy sleep schedule, you can gain all these weight loss health benefits and stay on track so you can reach your ultimate health and fitness goals.
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