I concede that the title of this article may be an absurdity to many people. However, I assure you that there is not. Science has shown that adequate sleep is very important to your general well being and can in fact help overweight people to shed a few pounds.

So are you having enough sleep? I mean say at least 8 hours each night or more? You don\’t have enough sleep, then that could be the reason why you are not losing your extra body fat. You see, the weight loss diet that you are on and exercise routine that you religiously carrying out may be wasted because of your lack of sleep. Several studies has shown that long term sleep deprivation is associated to an increase in body fat and also dangerous diseases like diabetes.

The studies are even showing that lack of sleep can affect hormones that affect weight loss and increase in weight. Denying yourself with enough sleep also affects insulin sensitivity which has an effect on your appetite and the amount of calories you burn when you are resting or your basic metabolic rate. When these hormones are out of sync, it can cause you to put on weight because of insulin resistance.

To make matters worse, insulin resistance can lead to the onset of Type 2 diabetes. This is because when your body is insulin resistant, it must produce even more insulin to flush the glucose out of your blood circulatory system. Over time, insulin resistance can damage your pancreas and so the pancreas cannot continue to produce enough insulin causing you to become a diabetic.

Sleep deprivation not only affects your insulin sensitivity but also raise your cortisol level. Your cortisol, which is a stress hormone directly influences your blood sugar levels and is known to accelerate weight increases, especially contributing to your tummy fat.

High levels of cortisol is not good for you because it breaks down your muscle tissues, which then contributes to the elevation of blood glucose level which will then force your metabolism to drop and your body to conserve fat.

People who are sleep deprived produce higher levels of ghrelin which is a hormone that triggers hunger and slows down your metabolic rate. In other words, you will get hungry more easily and so tend to eat more and burn fewer calories.

So if you put the issues together caused by not having enough sleep, such as becoming insulin resistant that can damage your pancreas, high cortisol level that makes your body break down your muscle and storing body fat and the lowering of your metabolic rate making you less effective in burning excess calories, you can then see why you are not achieving your weight loss goals.

Yes, I know some of you find it hard to fall asleep and so here are some suggestions on how you can have some shut-eye easily.

Firstly, always go to bed at the same time every night. This is so that you can establish your biological clock and when your body is used to the time and you will feel sleepy at the same time each night.

Use your bedroom for what it is for and that is to sleep with the occasional sexual adventures with your partner. So do not watch television especially exciting ones or read interesting books in bed. This is to impress onto your subconscious mind that when you are in bed, it is to sleep and not anything else.

Keep your bedroom really dark during bed time. Switch off the reading lamp and draw your curtain blinds so that no outside light can penetrate into your bedroom. Numerous studies had concluded that you fall asleep faster in the dark. Your body will also produce more melatonin to help you to sleep more soundly.

If you still have a problem with falling asleep, then it is about time you consult a sleep doctor or look for alternative treatments like quiet meditation or sleep inducing hypnosis. Remember that sleep deprivation not only makes you put on weight, it also comes with many other problems concerning your physical and mental health.

Author Bio: Chris Chew is a sought after health and fitness consultant. If you really want to lose weight, then read How to lose weight quickly and Lose weight fitness programs

Category: Wellness, Fitness and Diet
Keywords: sleep more, lose weight, metabolism