Lack of Sleep Isn’t Just Making You Cranky—It’s Making You Overweight

When it comes to maintaining a healthy weight, you can’t improve your genes, but you can improve how much—and how well—you sleep. Genes play a tremendous role in your body composition, but so do environmental factors such as diet, exercise, and how much rest you’re getting each night. Many people overlook the important factor of sleep when trying to reach their body weight goals. But sleep actually affects your weight in several ways. You can’t actually sleep off the pounds, but you can improve your sleep habits so that you’re not sabotaging your best weight loss efforts. For instance, it’s important to go to bed and rise at the same time every day rather than playing catch up on weekends. By getting a good night’s sleep, each and every night, you may begin to notice the scale tipping in your favor. Read more…