If you are like most Americans, you probably aren’t getting enough sleep. Our culture is one of overwork and under-sleep. And then we brag about how little sleep we got the night before! Sleep deprivation comes at a very high price–it negatively affects our personal health and overall well-being. Without adequate sleep, we make more mistakes, eat the wrong foods, increase our stress level, and often don’t perform as well in all areas of our lives. Increased accidents and bad decisions result from a lack of sleep. (So your decision at 3 pm to eat that entire bag of chips was most likely due to a lack of sleep and “NOT” a lack of will power.)
I just finished reading Arianna Huffington’s new book, Thrive, and she speaks to this problem extensively. It’s available through our HGW Bookstore. I highly recommend it!
I typically get at least 7 hours of sleep each night which seems to be my “magic” number. (If you don’t know what your “magic” number is, go to bed and wake up without an alarm clock for a few days…your body will let you know.) Oh, and studies show that trying to catch up on lost sleep over a week-end really isn’t effective in the long run.
If you want to lose weight, in addition to eating the right foods and exercising regularly, get enough rest. It seems to be an essential component of weight management.
Give it a try for a few weeks…and let us know your “magic number” and know how you feel with enough rest.
