motd Monday January 16, 2012

[Guest guest]

GO TO BED!

Monday, 16 January 2012

Are you one of those people who stays up all

night following the adventures of your friends on

Facebook? I mean, there you are feeling all drowsy but...you

keep right on typing away. The next thing you know,

you suddenly sit up and there're letters etched into

your face. Oh

no! Did you fall asleep face-down right into

that keyboard again? LOL. But let me stop laughing

long enough to tell you this...Go to bed!

So, do I sound like your mother or father scolding

when you were a teenager trying to stay up all night?

(Knowing you had school the next morning.) Well, it's

not your missing the bus I'm worried about. It's your

weight! Now,

you may be wondering what in the world I'm talking

about so let me explain.

Not getting sufficient sleep may contribute to your

gaining weight. How? Well, for one thing, sleep

deprivation can lead to your reaching for coffee or

some "comfort food" to compensate for the fact that

you're just plain tired!

A psychology professor at Harvard University also

found that being tired lowers our resistance to

high-calorie foods. He went on to say that getting

enough sleep is one of your best weapons against

gaining weight in the long run.

Most adults need at least 7-8 hours of uninterrupted

sleep per night. And get this, sleep deprivation can

decrease the amount of leptin in your

system. What's that? Leptin is the hormone

that signals your brain to stop

eating when

you're full. And the bad news is that not getting

enough sleep lowers the amount of leptin your body

produces. (See where this can lead?)

And one other thing. Don't eat your dinner just an

hour or two before going to bed. (That's kinda late

to be eating.) People who eat late, just before going

to bed gain, on average, 3-5 more pounds per year.

Personally, I try not to eat anything after 7:30PM.

When I teach class at Slimmons, I get home a little

late and I'm not in the mood for a big meal. On those

nights, I always have just a salad for dinner. So

remember, try to have your dinner earlier in the

evening.

Have a great day today, everybody. But after you've

played on the Internet for a little while tonight,

don't stay up all night cruising from one web site to

another. Go

to bed!

Love,