“The less sleep you get, the more your genes contribute to how much you weigh. The more sleep you get, the less your genes determine how much you weigh”
Dr. Watson.
Get more sleep is one of the basic simple tenants that I advise all the people I work with. If you want to heal, regenerate, rebuild, strengthen, get well and stay well then get more sleep. Women spend thousands of dollars each year to cover their faces with various creams and lotions every day but many forget that the most important way to better skin and healthy weight loss is simply being in bed at 9pm most nights. In NZ, Australian, UK and USA, most women are sleep-deprived. Most modern women get just 6.5 hours of sleep each night. This is not enough, not by a long shot. If you do not get enough regular sleep then you will not lose weight, your skin will not glow, your energy will lag, your longevity will falter and your disease-risk jumps dramatically.
The science agrees
In the journal “Bioessays” a group of University of Aberdeen scientists suggest that “we’re getting fatter because humans are trying to beat the clock”. Dr. Cathy Wyse who works with the chronobiology research group at the University of Aberdeen said “Electric light allowed humans to override an ancient synchronization between the rhythm of the human clock and the environment, and over the last century, daily rhythms in meal, sleep and working times have gradually disappeared from our lives. Studies in microbes, plants and animals have shown that synchronization of the internal clock with environmental rhythms is important for health and survival, and it is highly likely that this is true in humans as well”. The Endocrine Reviews summary explains “In mammals, the circadian clock influences nearly all aspects of physiology and behavior, including sleep-wake cycles, cardiovascular activity, endocrine system, body temperature, renal activity, physiology of the gastrointestinal tract, and hepatic metabolism.”
The authors noted that heart attacks, acute cases of congestive heart failure, hypertensive crises and asthma attacks all peak at a certain time of the day, based on epidemiological study results.
Other research as published online May 1, 2012 in the journal Sleep, from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, found the role of sleep in genetics. Nathaniel Watson, a neurologist and co-director of the University of Washington Medicine Sleep Center in Seattle, and colleagues, analyzed self-reported data on height, weight and sleep duration of 604 pairs of identical twins and 484 sets of fraternal twins in the University of Washington Twin Registry.
What did they discover?
- Genetics had a much lower impact on weight gain or loss than sleep.
- They found clearly that those who slept longer at night had lower body mass index than those sleeping less.
- For those participants averaging more than nine hours of sleep, genetic factors accounted for 32% of weight variations.
- However for those sleeping less than seven hours, genetic factors accounted for 70% of weight variations.
The bottom line?
The better your rhythm and routine and sleep (early to bed, early to rise), the more power you have over your weight.
We are designed to be asleep for around 30% of the time – any less and it WILL catch up with you.
Just like our grandmothers told us eh?
VIDEO: Eight Key Steps for Weight Loss – Part 1
GOLDEN Rule 1: Be Prepared and Control your Environment
GOLDEN Rule 2: Deal with the Body you have
GOLDEN Rule 3: Honour Thy Bowel
GOLDEN Rule 4: Give up what Weakens You
GOLDEN Rule 5: Read Ingredients Panels (RIP) or Rest in Peace
GOLDEN Rule 7: Eat a Local, Balanced, Plant-Based Wholefood Diet
GOLDEN Rule 8: Need to Exercise Every Day (NEED)
GOLDEN Rule #9: Awareness Around Alcohol (AAA)
GOLDEN Rule 14: Stop Eating at 7 p.m.
GOLDEN Rule 15: Treat Sleep like GOLD
GOLDEN Rule 16: Raw, Soaked, Sprouted and Fermented
GOLDEN Rule 17: Alkaline Balance is Crucial (ABC)
Why is being overweight or obese so dangerous to our health?
We are eating 10x more chicken and we are the most overweight people in the world…
Overweight, Overfat or Obesity Long Term is Deadly: References
Jason wishes to deeply thank, acknowledge and recognise the effort and contribution that the PIF Foundation has provided on a voluntary basis since 2014, as we educated, motivated and inspired change that helps transform the health, vitality and longevity of people all over the world.
