Sleep more than 7 hours helps to lose weight
How many hours do you sleep a day? Would you like to lose weight? No, they are not two unrelated questions, because if you want the second, you should also take care of the first. This has been assured by the director of the Nutrition Unit of the Spanish Federation of Food and Beverage Industries (FIAB), Carolina Muro.
And is that after seven hours of sleep, with each additional hour you can reduce the risk of overweight by 36 percent. If you were one of those who believed that the more you sleep less calories are spent, you can forget that false myth. This expert says "during the night the body spends energy, so adults are recommended to sleep between seven and nine hours a day, and children about ten hours."
The importance of hours of sleep
This same expert explains that, every day, our body spends approximately 10 percent of the energy we have to digest, absorb and store food. He adds that we spend between 10 and 30 percent on physical activity, and up to 70 percent "only" on breathing, thinking or sleeping. Which explains the importance of sleep both in childhood and in adulthood.
What's more, it's not just that sleep is beneficial, but it is so necessary that the lack of sleep has negative consequences, because it makes the hormones involved in the regulation of appetite end up unbalancing and cause more hunger. It is not only that energy is not spent while sleeping, but that the body gets up with more hunger, which includes a risk of gaining weight by eating more than what is going to be spent.
How much sleep in Spain?
According to what this expert warns, the Spanish we have to put the batteries in the matter of sleep: Spaniards sleep an average of seven hours a day, with men sleeping the most (about ten minutes longer than women).
The latest survey of the Center for Sociological Research (CIS), made public at the beginning of March, pointed out that the number of hours that Spaniards spend on sleep has hardly changed in recent years, as more than half of them said. the respondents.
Now, it is worrisome that more than a third (35.7 percent) assured that yes they slept less than five years ago, which means that a high percentage of Spaniards sleep possibly less than they should.
In fact, this is reflected in the same survey regarding Spanish life and sleep habits: more than half (58.5 percent) usually wake up one working day between seven and nine in the morning, while 19 percent rise between six and seven.
As for bedtime, the survey showed that the vast majority (64.2 percent) do not go to bed before eleven o'clock at night, a percentage that increases over the weekend, when two out of every three Spaniards go to bed. between 11 at night and one in the morning.
The importance of sleep in children and adolescents
We must take special care with this in the case of children, who are the ones who need to sleep well and rest in order to develop fully. This is what we saw when talking about importance of children's nap and how to act when they have night terrors or nightmares.
In the case of adolescents, one must also be very careful, since they are in an age characterized by the constant study. This means that in most of the time they sleep much less than they should, which has as consequence the increase of the reaction time and the lack of concentration.
Tips to sleep more and better
However, the importance of good sleep and the necessary hours is demonstrated, but how to do it? It is true that we always have some worry in our heads, whether for work, economic or family reasons. Therefore, we recommend these techniques to try to sleep more.
-Schedule: Follow a regular schedule of going to bed at night. This way you will create habit and you will get used to your body to be tired and ready to sleep at the same time.
-Exercise: Do physical exercise regularly but never just before going to bed, because you will have the opposite consequence: you will activate.
-Avoid stimulants: Do not drink caffeinated beverages after four in the afternoon. Also, remember that nicotine is also stimulating, so it is possible that if you stop smoking you also sleep better.
-Relax the mind: In most cases it is difficult for us to get to sleep because we have many things in our minds or because we have been watching very active programs before going to bed. Avoid it
-Outside strong lights: experts also recommend staying away from strong lights (yes, also the computer and the Smartphone) before bedtime.If you have a lot of trouble sleeping, you can also try to meditate or listen to soft, quiet music before going to bed.
-Don't take long naps: Children need to nap as part of their daily sleep hours, but not adults. Although we often need a nap because we have not rested enough during the night, it prevents them from being longer than half an hour.
-Let up with the light of day: It is true that in winter it is more difficult because there are fewer hours of sun, but try as long as you can wake up with the morning light (without having the blinds down). The morning light indicates to the body that it is time to get up, so it helps you to wake up.
Angela R. Bonachera
