The health benefits of sleep

When thinking about the most significant factors that can improve your health, the main focus tends to be on diet and exercise. But there's a third piece to the health and wellness puzzle that often gets overlooked, and that's sleep.

Getting a good night's sleep is essential for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. And with good reason. The average adult requires 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night. Yet almost half of all Americans say they feel sleepy during the day, and 35% of all adults in the U.S. report sleeping on average for less than seven hours per night.

This is why it's so important to maintain your circadian rhythm and create healthy sleeping habits.

Research shows a strong connection between sleep and your overall health. Getting the recommended amount of sleep can have a positive effect on your metabolic health, hormonal health, and maintaining a healthy body weight.

Let's take a closer look at how sleep can affect maintaining a healthy body weight.

4 Ways Sleep May Affect Weight Loss

1.    Appetite:

A lack of sleep also affects your body’s regulation of the neurotransmitters ghrelin and leptin. These chemical messengers let your body know when it’s hungry (ghrelin) or full (leptin).  

When you’re deprived of sleep, your leptin level can be too low, which may cause you to overeat because you’re not getting a signal that you’re full.

In one study, men who got 4 hours of sleep had increased ghrelin and decreased leptin compared to those who got 10 hours of sleep.

Unbalanced levels of ghrelin and leptin may lead to an increased appetite and a delayed response to feeling full.

2.    Overeating:

When you’re tired, it’s not easy to maintain healthy habits. Recent studies show that adults who get only 4 hours of sleep have increased levels of hunger and appetite. The combination of having less energy and feeling hungrier may cause you to crave foods that are higher in calories for a quick energy boost.

3.    Fat storage:

Not getting enough sleep may trigger a cortisol spike. Cortisol is a stress hormone that signals your body to conserve energy to fuel your waking hours. In other words, when you don’t get enough sleep, you’re more likely to hang on to fat.

4.    Metabolism:

Your metabolism dictates how much energy (calories) your body burns to maintain itself. Evidence shows that sleep loss and sleep disorders significantly impact metabolism.

One of the major impacts on metabolism includes fluctuating blood sugar levels.

Did you know that GOLO's Release® supplement works to help keep these levels steady throughout the day? Of course, that doesn't mean you should skip sleep, but it does mean that Release could help.

What are the Best Foods for a Good Night’s Sleep?

There are many chemicals, amino acids, enzymes, nutrients, and hormones in whole foods that control parts of the sleep cycle. Incorporating these foods into your diet may help you fall asleep quicker and stay asleep longer.

Foods that Can Promote a Good Night’s Sleep

Almonds: Contain melatonin, which can help improve your sleep cycle and promote relaxation. 

Warm milk: A warm cup of milk before bed can also be a relaxing nightly ritual that promotes sleep.

Kiwi: Studies link kiwi consumption with improved total sleep time and the time it takes to fall asleep.

Pineapples, oranges, and bananas: May also help you sleep better when eaten on a regular basis. 

Tart cherries (and tart cherry juice): have been shown to improve sleep quality.

Chamomile tea: The flavonoid compound in Chamomile, called apigenin, is known to have sleep-inducing properties.

Walnuts: The nutrients in walnuts may help improve your quality of sleep. 

Fatty fish: A good source of vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids, fatty fish may improve sleep.

Whole grains: Whole grains are enriched with a range of nutrients known to impact sleep.

Nuts and seeds: Pistachios, pumpkin seeds, and sesame seeds contain tryptophan, which has been connected to good sleep quality. Walnuts and cashews have nutrients that could help improve your quality of sleep. 

Yogurt: Contains protein, vitamins, and nutrients, which can all contribute to sounder sleep. Just be sure to find a yogurt low in sugar. 

These are just a few foods that can help with sleep quality. But there are plenty of others. In a broad sense, lean meats and high-fiber foods have been found to improve sleep quality.

Foods you should avoid before bed. 

Certain foods could disrupt sleep, so it's best to avoid them before bed. 

Sweets and processed carbohydrates: Foods with lots of sugar or processed carbs have been linked to poor sleep. 

Fatty, spicy, or acidic foods: If you suffer from acid reflux, it's best to lay off these foods before bed since they could make it difficult to fall asleep. 

Caffeine: Has been shown to negatively impact sleep when consumed before bedtime and can make it more difficult to slip into the deeper stages of sleep.

Alcohol: While alcohol can cause you to dose off, in the long run, it can interrupt the natural sleep cycle later on during the night.

Heavy foods: larger meals of heavy foods right before you go to bed can cause digestive problems, making it difficult to sleep.  

Tips to improve your quality of sleep

Stick to a regular sleep schedule: Having drastic changes in your sleep schedule or trying to play catch up after a week of long nights can make it more difficult to get a good night’s sleep. The better you can stick to a regular sleeping schedule, the better your sleep will be.

Sleep in a dark room: light exposure, whether it’s from your TV or phone, has been known to reduce sleep quality. Light exposure at night can hinder transitions between sleep cycles, reducing the quality of sleep. Too much light can cause repeated awakenings, interrupting the sleep cycle and reducing time spent in deeper, more restorative sleep stages.

Don’t eat right before bed: Eating right before you go to sleep or having a late-night snack can affect digestion and sleep quality. 

Reduce Stress: Chronic stress may lead to poor sleep and weight gain. 

How GOLO Can Help with Sleep

The GOLO for Life® Plan is a back-to-basics, balanced eating plan that focuses on eating whole foods, including healthy carbs and fats. The vitamins and nutrients you get from eating whole foods, including the ones mentioned in this article, can help maintain good energy and promote restful sleep.

When combining balanced meals of whole foods with Release, GOLO’s patented, all-natural, plant-based supplement, you may experience significant health improvements, including increased energy. The more energy you have throughout the day could help you have a better night's sleep.

Besides Release®, GOLO also offers Rest & GO. This all-natural supplement contains botanical and vitamin compounds to support relaxation, stress, and sleep support while assisting natural processes the body uses to recover and recharge. It was designed to support restful sleep, allowing the body to perform these essential processes throughout the night.

Rest & GO can help you experience a generalized improved state of health and increased energy, motivation, and interest.

Sources

Information for this article was collected by the health and wellness experts at GOLO using the following sources:

Health.Harvard.edu

Sleep Foundation - Mastering Sleep Hygiene

Sleep Foundation - Sleep and Weight Loss

Sleep Foundation - Healthy Bedtime Snacks To Eat Before Sleep 

CDC.gov

National Library of Medicine

--