Reclaim your Sleep to Reclaim your Waistline

When was the last time you slept ALL night and woke up feeling energised and motivated to start your day?

Did you know that the QUALITY of your sleep affects your mind, your motivation, your hormones and your weight?

One of the first things I ask my clients is "How well do you sleep?"

Some will say "like a baby... I fall asleep straight away, maybe get up or wake up once or twice...& then I fall straight back to sleep"

What I'm listening out for is if their sleep is interrupted, even for a few minutes.

Sounds like you?  Then I want to share some simple ways that will absolutely make a big difference to your sleep and how you feel when you wake up!

But why is it so important to have an uninterrupted sleep?

You already know, that waking up after a good night's sleep leaves us feeling refreshed and more energized to start our day, if that’s even something you can remember….. Not only does it make us feel amazing, but it turns out that it plays a huge role in our overall mental & physical health, including weight management.

So, let's take a look at WHY sleep is sooo important.

Can you recall that feeling when you wake up after a night of tossing and turning? Yep, it's not great. But what you might not realize is how much interrupted sleep can impact your physical and mental well-being. It actually messes with your cognitive function, leaves you feeling moody, and can seriously impact your productivity. There is also a connection between poor sleep and weight gain.

Turns out, our hormones get all out of whack when we don't catch enough Zzs.

Specifically, Ghrelin, the hormone that tells us we are hungry, becomes more active when we’re sleep-deprived, creating an increased desire to eat more food.

Then there is the hormone Leptin, which tells us that we're full. This important hormone reduces when we are not getting enough sleep.

The outcome can be an increased appetite coupled with reduced sensations of feeling full, which leads to over snacking, over eating and, inevitably, weight gain.

But it doesn't stop there! The lack of uninterrupted sleep also messes with our energy levels and can leave us feeling low and unmotivated. When we're sleep-deprived, we're more likely to choose sugary, high-calorie foods to give us an energy boost. You know those days when you just can't resist reaching for that chocolate bar instead of a healthier snack? Yass! Blame it on the lack of quality sleep!

So how CAN we get a better night's sleep? Did you know that magic happens when you set an intention to prioritize your sleep?  Check out my 5 Top Tips, and there are a heap more….

My 5 TOP Tips to sleep your way to Weight Loss

1. Get yourself outside into the daylight each morning for a minimum of 15–30 mins without sunglasses to increase your levels of Vit D, which will increase your sleep hormone melatonin.
2. Turn off your "screens" or wear Blue Light Reducing glasses for at least 1 hour before bed. Remove all technology from the bedroom as it will decrease Melatonin production
3. Create a regular bedtime and wake-up time to retrain your mind and body to get a minimum of 7 hours' sleep.
4. Eat a smaller, lighter (less animal protein) meal at dinner and have it earlier in the evening to allow your food to digest and your body to begin its nightly restoration & healing without having to work on digesting the food.
5. Practice deep belly breathing each time you wake up and stay in bed until you fall back to sleep - to retrain your mind and body to stay horizontal and get back to sleep quicker.

This last tip about staying in bed has had some of my clients looking at me with raised eyebrows, because they're getting up to go to the loo…

In most cases, this is something that they've trained their mind and body to do, which CAN be retrained to stay in bed.

Recently, one of my clients, who had been getting up and down up to 3 times a night, tried a couple of these new strategies and after just one week, she had stopped one of the midnight trips - which had been happening for the last 4 years!

I also highly recommend having a pelvic floor health check by a qualified Physio to rule out any related issues that may be contributing to nocturnal visits to the loo as lowering estrogen can be a contributing factor.

So now it's time to put some of these strategies into action, so you can support your mind and body to have the best sleep ever!

Of course, there are other lifestyle changes that I encourage my clients to put into place, and if you're struggling with menopausal weight gain, or you've been dieting for decades and nothing has worked, then please reach out for a confidential 30-min FREE Consult and let's come up with some helpful suggestions for you.