Exercise and Better Sleep

Another benefit of regular exercise is better sleep. I hadn't thought about it until this morning. I've been sleeping sooo much better. It makes me question how sleep affects weight loss so I went out there and did some research. There have been multiple studies, but more than one has found a connection between sleep and the hormones Ghrelin and Leptin which impact our eating behavior! Ghrelin affects our "feelings" of hunger while Leptin let's our body know when we've had enough. When we toss and turn all night and don't get enough sleep, our Ghrelin levels go up, and to make matters worse our Leptin levels go down. You know what that means? That's right. Cravings plague our thoughts while our brain doesn't register that we are full. So we keep eating! And this fact really hit home. Those of us who don't get enough sleep tend to snack on high calorie foods including:

• Sweets
• Salty foods
• Starchy foods

The benefit of exercising more is helping me sleep better. Who knows maybe that will be the key to putting my craving to rest! Time will tell.