Winter comes with extremely cold temperatures and long nights. This seems like a perfect time for you to get more sleep and relax your body. Nevertheless, some people experience an issue with getting adequate sleep during winter. This may hugely impact your weight loss journey, as being short on sleep can adversely affect your weight. So, how should you get better winter sleep hygiene for weight loss? Let’s look at the connection between sleep and weight loss and how to foster good sleep hygiene during winter.
The Relationship between Sleep and Weight Loss
Research shows that the link between weight and sleep is strong. Studies have shown that sleep deprivation pushes you to eat more food, and you are likely to lean on unhealthy options. Lack of enough sleep throws your hunger hormones out of proportion. Your body has two major hunger hormones, namely ghrelin and leptin. Ghrelin is responsible for hunger, while leptin ensures you are satisfied and full after eating.
With a lack of sleep, your hormones are unable to function properly, and this causes you to have a larger appetite. Your self-control will also be altered after the deprivation, causing you difficulty in resisting high-calorie junk foods. Even worse, the endocannabinoid system cannot regulate appetite and the brain’s reward system, causing cravings to increase. In short, you will not know when to stop eating.
The cycle of the confused hormones and system continues until your body stores more fat even when you are no longer consuming more calories. All this results in difficulty losing weight and demotivation in your journey.
4 Quick Tips on Sleep Hygiene
1. Get Some Sun or Light
Winter is characterized by long periods of darkness and short daylight hours. Lack of sunshine can make your body sulk, causing poor sleep hygiene. To combat this, you must introduce a few hours of light in your sleep hygiene for weight loss routine. This is because light triggers melatonin suppression, ensuring you can get quality sleep.
There are different ways to introduce the light. You can get white light bulbs in your room and have them lit in the morning for a few hours. If your area is experiencing some hours of the sun, ensure you step out and let it hit your skin.
2. Indulge in Exercises and Workouts
Exercise requires constant activity. For you to exercise, you need to be actively involved in whatever you are doing. This gets bleaker during winter due to the harsh weather conditions. It makes you lack motivation to get up and indulge in your daily workouts. Skipping your workout routine is a huge contributor to sleep deprivation.
Even when the sun doesn’t shine, you should still follow your sleep hygiene for weight loss routine. Innovate your workout sessions at home and get active for at least 30 minutes daily. You can start with light stretches before running on a treadmill.
3. Avoid Sleeping or Napping During the Day
Since you are mostly confined in the house, staying in bed for extended hours is normal. In fact, most people either sleep in the morning or nap during the day. While it may sound like a great idea, it does more harm than good to your sleeping pattern. This makes it harder for you to sleep during the night.
Try as much as possible to reduce napping during the day. You need to dissociate from the bedroom after you wake up in the morning. With a set night routine, you can stabilize your sleep and burn more calories.
4. Watch Your Weight
After curbing your sleep issues, your next step should be checking your weight. Research shows that people tend to overeat during winter for the same reasons they work out less. The cold temperatures make your body crave more comfort foods or sugary and fatty carbohydrates. With the unwillingness to get into the kitchen, it is easy to get yourself a bag of fries and a soda, both of which are unhealthy for you.
If the issue is constantly being in the kitchen prepping, you can get a crock pot for slow cooking. Get innovative with healthy ingredients and incorporate a lot of water. Since overeating is also caused by stress, find healthy stress-relief methods to keep your mental health in a good position. Above all else, practice mindfulness and recognize when you are overeating.
Improve your sleep hygiene with Spatz help
As you can see, the relationship between sleep hygiene and weight loss is strong. It involves the alteration of the most common body processes, which leads to weight gain. During winter, your sleep is limited by several aspects, most of which you can control and restore healthy bedtime hygiene. As with most lifestyle changes, you must consistently do it even when you feel tired or unwilling to bear the cold. Try the above tips today and get the best sleep hygiene!
And to improve your habits even faster, you can try Spatz3 adjustable gastric balloon!
