More evidence is coming in showing a strong connection between sleep deprivation and weight gain. Reuters Health is running an article called,
Getting this information to people with eating disorders is essential. If you have an eating disorder you do what you can do relieve yourself of tension, anxiety and stress through your eating or starving or bingeing or purging methods. You know this. But you also use other methods to rescue yourself from unbearable feelings. One of these methods is sleep deprivation.
Do you go put off going to bed? Do you lull yourself to sleep on the couch watching TV to avoid going to sleep in your bedroom?
Do you give yourself tasks that require you to stay up late and run your life on five hours of sleep or less? Do you party hard or talk till the wee hours
and so give yourself little time to get nourishing sleep?
These are not unusual patterns for a person with an eating disorder. Drifting off to sleep in bed, in the quiet, in the dark is a vulnerable time. If you have an eating disorder, the last thing you want is to feel vulnerable.
The weight gain comes from your feeling weak and tired from sleep deprivation. You try to refresh yourself with new energy. But instead of going to sleep to restore your energy levels you reach for food, usually high calorie and dense carbohydrates. It's a case of looking for energy in all the wrong places.
If you want to lose weight, or at least, stop gaining weight, calculate the hours in a 24 hour period and set a plan where you give yourself eight hours of sleep every night. You will be pleasantly surprised at the effect this will have on your mind, your emotions and your weight.
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