In a recent post we talked about the importance of placing your body and health first when trying to lose weight and the cellulite that goes with it. Dieting, especially fad and crash diets, can upset your body’s systems, metabolism and blood-sugar levels to a point where, not only are you not able to lose weight as easily, but you are damaging your health and wellbeing. But there are other parts of our lives where, completely unknowingly and without making any real change to our regular routine, we are harming our health and our ability to reduce the amount of fat in our bodies. According to a Gallup poll in the U.S., Americans are getting more than an hour less sleep each day than they did in. The poll suggests that 40% of us get less than the recommended amount of sleep each night. Yet the benefits of getting proper sleep are many and well documented: • Sharper memory • Reduced inflammation • More creativity • Higher levels of physical performance • Better grades • Increased attention span • Less stress • Longer life expectancy

Sleep Helps You Lose More Fat & Cellulite

There’s one benefit of sleep that has only relatively recently been researched and documented. And it has important implications for anyone who is trying to lose fat as a way to improve the appearance of cellulite. A study was performed at the University of Chicago to examine the effects of sleep loss on overweight and obese participants, whose caloric intake was reduced to 90% of what they needed to maintain their weight without getting exercise. The participants went through two study periods of two weeks each; one where they got the recommended amount of sleep, or about 7.5 hours per night, and the other where they got only 5.5 hours of sleep per night. According to the study’s findings, participants lost the same amount of weight whether or not they got a full night’s sleep. But when dieters slept longer, over 50% of their weight loss was fat. For the sleep-deprived dieters, their weight loss was only about 25% fat. It’s a clear indication that getting the right amount of sleep can double the amount fat that is part of the overall weight loss. Fat is literally the underlying cause of cellulite. If getting more sleep means you lose more fat … well …..zzzzz.