What if I tell you that you can lose weight by sleeping? Surprised? Don’t be its true! But for this your Gut must be healthy and what if I tell you to keep your gut healthy you need to have a proper sleep regime? Also, a healthy gut will accelerate your weight loss journey.
Yes, it’s a cycle!
Healthy Gut=Better sleep= Easy weight loss!
Gut health importance:
Ever wondered why digestion is so important? Well because everything in health is rooted in your digestive tract. I love this quote by Hippocrates- “All diseases begin in the gut” and so where do you think the resolution would lie?? GUT GUT GUT!!! Good health starts in the gut. The health of the gut is implicated in every single system in the body. Your gut health impacts your sleep how? Its your GUT BRAIN AXIS!
Your brain communicates with your gut
- Through neurotransmitters
- By your 10th cranial nerve which is vagus nerve
Sleep and gut health:
There were several studies that confirmed the quality of your sleep is determined by your gut microbiome.
Do you know? Your gut is known as second brain!
The enteric nervous system basically is the nervous system that controls your gut. And you make every single neurotransmitter, whether that’s serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine, GABA.
- Serotonin which helps us to relax and fall asleep or serotonin which when we have a serotonin imbalance often we will not sleep well, we’ll be depressed and we’ll be craving carbohydrates, like crazy
- GABA is our calming neurotransmitter which is produced byBifidobacterium and lactobacillus, it helps us feel in control, safe, and reduces anxiety levels. Symptoms of low GABA levels include: Anxiety, Insomnia or trouble sleeping
All of these neurotransmitters are made in huge amounts in the gut microbiome and they’re made by different bacteria.
There is constant communication between the Brain and your Gut.
And what we know from the research is that 90% of these messages go from the gut to the brain and about 10% go from the brain to the gut. So, when we’re feeling out of sorts and stressed, that can inflammation in the brain that imbalances a neurotransmitter that cause gutinflammation.
So, when there’s dysfunctionality at the level of the gut, typically serotoninlevels are low which leads to poor sleep quality.
Now you know how gut health and sleep is related!
Now let’s see why sleep is important and how it influence your weight loss.
Sleep has many purposes and benefits that together help to ensure the optimal functioning of the body as well as our physiological and psychological health. Sleep is a time of physical restoration, repair and renewal of tissues, neutralization of toxins, restoring normal levels of various blood and tissue metabolites and stabilizing our internal environment, blood and tissue metabolites and stabilizing our internal environment.
Good sleep is essential for optimal energy levels, string immunity, healthy functioning of all body systems and increased productivity in day to day activity. It is a must for boosting metabolism, improving body competition and exercise performance. Also helps to fight aging and stress.
Lack of sleep can also affect your food choices and, in turn, the microbes in your gut.
- Short sleep duration is associated with:
- Impaired glucose intolerance
- Impaired insulin resistance
- Increased Ghrelin, Ghrelin is your hunger hormone which stimulates your appetite and makes you feel hungry.
- Decreased Leptin, leptin aka satiety hormone whose role is to make you feel full.
- Increased body mass index (BMI)
- Women are more likely to eat in response to sleepiness than men are.
- Insomnia can manifest in depression
- A healthy gut microbiome is linked to a healthy circadian rhythm.
- 70% of growth hormone is released during sleep. Growth hormone is our anti-aging hormone. It helps us burn fat for fuel, decreases our recovery time from exercise, increases our lean body muscle mass, and helps improve bone density.
Also, there was one study conducted which proved that people who sleep better and for longer duration have better blood sugar control and are less likely to consume junk.
Simple Tips to Make Your Microbiome Bullet Proof:
- Diversity: Consume different kinds of vegetables.
- Consume Herbs & Prebiotics
- Make sure you get enough sleep
Simple tips that will help you sleep better:
- Maintain a dark room and avoid lights and electronic devises, avoid exposure to bright lights as they interfere with melatonin production essential for sleep.
- The bedroom must be room temperature or slightly cooler
- It is essential to maintain disciplined sleeping hours to help train the body’s clock and maintain the circadian rhythm.
- Avoid arguments before bedtime.
- Avoid paying bills before bed.
- Avoid reading stimulating material or news.
- Try Journaling thoughts.
- Experiment with diaphragmatic breathing to relax.
- Minimize or avoid Stimulants
- Avoid alcohol within 3 hours of bedtime.
- No smoking, since tobacco contains nicotine a powerful nervous system stimulant which increases alertness and interferes with sleep.
- Avoid high intake of fluids close to bedtime; this may increase the frequency of urination at night, leading to disturbances in the sleep cycles.
Sleep more to lose weight in a Gut healthy way!
Transform your health! Reach out now for personalized tips from Karishmma Chawla on how optimizing your gut health can enhance your sleep and weight loss.
