A Proper Night's Rest For Weight Control

By Leigh Roberts, DPT, OCS, PCRPP

Johns Hopkins Performing Arts Rehabilitation

. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/physical_medicine_rehabilitation/team/therapists/outpatient/odenton.html

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A Proper Night's Rest For Weight Control

When you're trying to maintain or even lose weight, there's lots of information about calories in and calories out, but more and more research is also pointing to sleep as a key factor to weight control.

Both children and adults are affected by too little sleep, and weight gain tends to be the consequence. There are several theories as to how sleep deprivation affects weight.

First, sleep deprivation may alter the hormones that control hunger, also increasing cravings for fat and carbohydrates to provide extra energy.

Second, since sleep deprived people spend more time awake there are more hours in their day to eat.

Third, sleep deprived people feel less energetic and are less likely to expend energy throughout their days. Regardless of the reason, adequate sleep seems to play a roll in weight control. However, sleep deprivation may not just be caused by not going to bed early enough.

Many patients report restless sleep or waking with aches and pains. This may be caused by sleeping in positions that cause or exacerbate pain.

So if you wake in pain, try these tips to help you rest in proper positions

If you're a side sleeper. Use a thick pillow to prop your top leg up. You want to maintain good hip alignment by placing the pillow between your knees to prevent that top leg from crossing the midpoint of your body. You'll also want to use a thick pillow under your head, to maintain your neck in good spinal alignment.

If you sleep on your stomach. If you sleep on your stomach, you're going to have to try to switch which side your turn your head. Most people have a side they favor which means many hours rotated in one direction. Try to at least spend part of the night facing the other direction so you're stretching out both sides. If you have lower back pain, placing a thin pillow under your hips may alleviate some of the pressure from sleeping on your stomach.

If you sleep on your back.This is probably the best position to sleep in as it keeps your body in the best alignment. Make sure your pillow isn't too thick that your neck is tilting forward. If you have trouble sleeping this way, try placing a small pillow under your knees to help your lower back stay in a neutral position.

Now, have a good nights sleep.