Day 7 - Sleep On!

And I'm sure you can predict that I will say Yep, I'm tired!!!  Just that much work makes a body tired, but at the same time there were issues at home here that caused Sadie to not sleep, which caused ME to not sleep.....  what a cycle.

The problem with that is two sided -- not only is it hard to be efficient at my job, but when I'm tired, all I want to do is reach for comfort foods - because eating something just might help me feel better (when we all know what's needed is a good night's sleep!)

So I found on WebMD these little blurbs and that totally explains it:

Could lack of sleep be causing you to gain weight?

Think about it: If you’re feeling sleepy at work, you may be tempted to reach for a cup of coffee (or several cups) and a doughnut for a quick shot of energy. Later you may skip the gym and pick up takeout on your way home to your family -- no time to cook. When you finally find yourself back in your bed, you are too wound up to sleep.
 
“It’s not so much that if you sleep, you will lose weight, but if you are sleep-deprived, meaning that you are not getting enough minutes of sleep or good quality sleep, your metabolism will not function properly,” explains Michael Breus, PhD

The two hormones that are key in this process are ghrelin and leptin. “Ghrelin is the ‘go’ hormone that tells you when to eat, and when you are sleep-deprived, you have more ghrelin,” Breus says. “Leptin is the hormone that tells you to stop eating, and when you are sleep deprived, you have less leptin.”

Well.  I don't know about you, but I feel better knowing this now!!  Sleep is important for everything to function properly, and if I'm not getting my sleep, my efforts (and money) at the gym are being totally wasted.   And I won't let that happen......

Gotta get my sleep on!!

Happy St Patrick's Day, everyone :)