Weight Loss & Sleep

I keep seeing articles & bits on the news that indicate sleep is important to weight loss.  I've been hearing that for ages, but I noticed that no one ever tells you HOW to get a good night's rest - just that you should do it.

So, how do you do it if you're already overweight?  With weight gain, you also get sleep problems, due to the way the body has to adjust so it can keep functioning. Things that interrupt sleep include:

• Snoring
• Tingling in limbs
• Pain in extremities
• Sleep apnea

Sleep apnea is a fairly common sleep disorder in which your breathing temporarily stops during sleep due to blockage of the upper airways.  As you gain more weight, the likelihood that sleep apnea will increase (especially if you sleep with a pillow), for the simple reason that there's more bulk pressing down on your neck and closing your airway.

Tingling in the limbs (not to be confused with RLS, Restless Leg Syndrome) is generally caused from the extra bulk of the body cutting off the circulation from the limb.  This generally happens in arms, for people who sleep on their sides.

Pain in extremities also happens from lack of circulation.  It's simply the body's way of letting you know that lack of blood to the hands and feet is not a good idea.  :)

Snoring is is the vibration of respiratory structures and the resulting sound, due to obstructed air movement during breathing while sleeping.  Snoring can be caused by lots of things, but one of the important ones to examine is that fat in and around the neck, combined with throat muscle weakness commonly makes snoring.  Not only does it impact your ability to sleep, but the people who sleep near you can't get a good night's rest either.

I don't have any personal experience with sleep apnea.  I do, however, have experience with the other three things!  So, how to get around those things so you can get a good night's rest?  I use dogs as pillows.  Hehehe - they get a warm heater to snuggle up with ON the bed, I get limbs that work in the morning.  lol.  If you don't have a dog to snuggle up with to keep your arms from getting pinched underneath you, try a body pillow!  I'm told they work very well but find that fuzzy poodles work very well, too, and I get added benefits from the dogs in that they've been proven to help lower your blood pressure.  ::grins::

The great thing about all my testing stuff out is that I FOUND A SOLUTION TO SNORING!  It's even a homeopathic solution.  Snorestop, in particular, is the product I used.  I've done it two nights in a row and had no complaints from my guests (niece and nephew) the next morning about my snoring.  The interesting things is that I feel better.  Normally, I need 10 hours sleep a night.  I've been down to 7-8 for the last two nights and just waking up earlier feeling refreshed instead of waking up after 10 hours and still feeling like I need to go back to bed.  THIS works.

So, my product suggestions are all in the Less of Me Store, under Sleep Help Products.  I hope they help me drop a few pounds and I hope they help you drop a few, too!