Lose Weight by Sleeping?Written by Alex Sharp
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 body’s metabolism making it difficult to lose and control weight. Lack of sleep causes a hormone called cortisol, which controls 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 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 short-term rise in blood sugar, brought on by these snacks, gives a surge of energy, extra calories are not needed by 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 energy and motivation to do even simple exercises. They rather go to sleep, or eat, than go physical. In due time, calories that are gained and not easily burned are deposited in body as fat.
| | Exercise and the Time ClockWritten by Sherri L Dodd
I have to admit it can be amusing when someone knows I am a trainer and proceeds to elaborate on hours that they spend in gym. One example was a few years back when I was introduced to a nice, young women, who proceeded to tell me that she went to gym twice a day, an hour each time. Instead of being impressed by her exuberant enthusiasm for working out, my thoughts were that one of those hours might be better spent in a psychologist’s office. Excessive exercising is unsafe and an unhealthy sign of other deep-rooted problems. So, question remains how many ticks on clock should pass before you head for locker room? And what compels a person to go way overboard in their exercise routine?First off, if you are one of our valued clients, you already know that Mom Looks Great program utilizes thirty to forty-five minute workout. If you have even an inkling of exercise information in your noodle, you probably know that even twenty minutes a day can benefit your heart. So why are some people intent on doing more, especially when there are serious consequences? The most common problem with over-exercising is injury to muscles and joints. The idea of regular exercise is to appropriately stress muscle during exercise. This stress places small tears in muscle, which upon repair, grow in size and strength, also known as hypotrophy. When muscle is over-exercised, it goes beyond what is appropriate and can actually damage muscle. Common areas are legs, feet, back and shoulders as well as joints problems that include knees, ankles, elbows and wrists. This can lead to a lifetime of recurring injuries.
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