How Sleep Is Affecting Your Belly Fat & What to Do About it
Tossing and turning all night, waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to fall asleep, going to bed late and waking up early affects you WAY more than just feeling tired and groggy the next day.
Sleep is one of the most important things for our health.
According to Healthline, sleep can negatively affect 11 things.
- Memory issues
- Mood changes
- Focus problems
- High blood pressure
- Risk for diabetes
- Weakened immune system
- Accident prone
- Weight Gain
- Low Libido
- Risk of heart disease
- Poor Balance
Sleep and rest are as important or more than any kind of productivity.
Did you know that your muscles actually grow when you rest?
That’s why I am big on not over training.
You don’t and shouldn’t workout every day.
Your body needs a break so it can recover and because when you work out, you actually are breaking muscle fibers, and they repair and grow when you rest.
I don’t know about you, but I struggle with sleep.
- The first few months of your kids’ lives, you don’t sleep much.
- The first few years or so of your kid’s life is hard because they wake up early.
- Then as they get bigger, you go to bed so late because you’re driving them around all kinds of gyms and fields to the late hours of the night or they are driving and out with friends…
So yeah… if you’re a mom, sleep is not something you get a lot of.
But something that is incredibly important to your health and also the way you look.
There is a huge connection between weight loss and sleep.
Over the past several decades, the amount of time that Americans spend sleeping has decreased while body mass index has decreased.
There are so many studies that suggest lack of sleep or poor sleep quality being associated to metabolic disorders, weight gain and increased risk of obesity and other chronic health conditions.
We need sleep. PERIOD.
GOOD SLEEP!
If you are struggling to lose weight and are trying to eat healthier and are exercising but you still can’t get the scale to budge…. I would consider working on your sleep.
There are other vitamins and supplements you should also be taking, that can help with weight loss. Read more about them here.
Did you know that sleep actually affects your appetite as well?
Our 2 appetite hormones or neurotransmitters are ghrelin (hunger hormone) and leptin (released when you are full and satiated).
Sleep deprivation affects the regulation of these 2 hormones.
People who sleep less have increased levels of ghrelin and decreased levels of leptin.
Not only that, but several studies also indicate that sleep deprivation affects our food preferences. Those who sleep less tend to eat higher amounts of overall calories and carbohydrates.
Now that you know all of this, does it make you want to focus a little more on your sleep?
You can start off by setting a strict going to bed time.
I get an average of 7 hours of sleep per night.
I never get less than that because I know what that does to my health, mood, body… all the things. It’s NOT GOOD.
But I have a strict 10:15pm rule.
I mean I could be in mid show with my husband or mid scroll on TikTok, but if its 10:15pm I literally roll over and go to bed.
I wake up no later than 5:15am for my morning prayer and devotion time, so I know that is the latest I can go to sleep to get my 7 hours.
Can you do that?
Can you put a hard stop on yourself at night and shut it down so that you can get a minimum of 7 hours of sleep?
Also, weekends are a good time to catch up on some sleep as well.
That may mean you have to sacrifice a little social life or watching TV to get to bed earlier and be able to sleep in.
I usually can get at good 9 hours a night on the weekends.
But if you are like me, the problem is if you wake up to go to the bathroom or you toss for some reason, your mind starts going and it takes forever to fall back asleep.
If you struggle with this or if you have a hard time unwinding and getting to sleep, you may benefit from a sleep supplement.
I take magnesium every night which is super helpful and because it also helps my thyroid autoimmune, but for the last few months I have been taking a sleep supplement that we have been developing and it’s been a game changer.
I have never slept so well and so consistently in years.
I fall asleep easily and I stay asleep (my biggest problem).
I used to wake up feeling tired and that doesn’t happen anymore.
We haven’t added it to the MMF Store yet, but stay tuned because soon, it will.
I am beyond excited about this supplement because I know how much it has helped me and I know that so many of you struggle with sleep and feeling tired all the time and how much your weight loss is affected by your sleep.
So to be able to help you with this has me sooooo excited.
I can’t wait to share this little miracle with you lol.
What makes Sleep Happy better than most sleep supplements are the tiny bits of melatonin, enough to help you fall asleep but not enough to get you addicted to it.
We also added a metabolite (Tryptophan), which is naturally in your body.
Tryptophan helps your body produce melatonin on its own so that you can produce it throughout the night and will stay asleep.
THIS.IS.THE.GAMECHANGER.
What makes tryptophan even better is that whatever your body doesn’t use of it to produce melatonin, it will use to produce serotonin (the happy hormone).
This will allow you to wake up, NOT FEELING GROGGY and actually will make you happy. Hence the name (SLEEP HAPPY).
It is amazing.
We took it a step further and added something to help fuel your natural sedative pathways.
Gabba is what we added to this miraculous formula, which is a master sedative neurotransmitter (which is already present in the body) but sometimes goes out of whack. So, we’re just supplementing natural processes that your body already wants to do when your body is working properly.
This neurotransmitter helps you relax, calm down and be ready to fall asleep.
It’s not easy being a mom… working, handling the kids, the home, stress…
It’s a lot.
But we need to feel and be at our best so we can be our best for everyone that relies on us.
So, please, don’t dismiss your sleep.
Work on it.
I promise if you start getting more sleep and better-quality sleep, you will feel a million times better and you will also look better.
Take it from someone who is living proof of what lack of sleep and poor sleep quality did to me.
If you are struggling to lose weight, check out this video for 3 tips that are not exercise related.
