According to Webmd, getting too little sleep hampers your metabolism and contributes to weight gain. Striving for 7-8 hours of sleep/night can improve the success of your weight loss goals. Here are some pleasant strategies for staying disciplined with a consistent bedtime:
Establish a bedtime that gives you 7 hours of rest, and follow a consistent routine:
3 hours before
- Stop eating /drinking to allow adequate digestion processing time, and to minimize waking for the bathroom.
- Turn off electronic devices – the brain needs to process the day’s activities along with emotions. Nightly use of these devices distracts us from normal brain operations & also prevents proper production of melatonin required for deep sound sleep.
1 hour before
- Journal – Writing down the day’s events brings surprising revelations of what our brain is still processing & buried emotions. The more buried emotions, the more we want to eat to comfort us. Journaling provides an avenue to release some emotions, and put our situation into a perspective that our brains can assess and work on resolving.
- Weekly Night Soak – soaking in a fragrant bath weekly provides a treat that doesn’t involve a sugar-coated dessert. It stabilizes a stressed out nervous system which also helps to satisfy our souls without food.
