The idea of best sleeping

How do we achieve this ideal 7.5 hours of sleep each night? Breus explains that “sleep is a sensory experience, and requires all five senses to have a good night’s rest.” He says these five bedroom essentials correlate with our five senses and are necessary to sleep soundly.

The idea of this sleep diet comes from his book “Beauty Sleep,” the paperback version of an earlier title “Good Night: The Sleep Doctor’s 4-Week Program to Better Sleep and Better Health.” When asked why 7.5 hours is the magic number, he explains to DietsInReview.com that the average sleep cycle lasts 90 minutes, and the average person has five of these cycles each night. Basic math puts you at 7.5 hours as the ideal amount of sleep necessary to let your body lose weight. Any additional sleep is beneficial, but you will not lose any more weight. "More sleep doesn’t make a tremendous difference," Breus says.

He also suggests that on the whole our nation is sleep deprived, and it’s this deprivation that is aiding our growing obesity epidemic. He says “sleep is not the cure [for obesity], but I definitely think it’s a contributing factor.” We asked if sleep had any positive influence on childhood obesity and his response was that there isn’t a great answer to that yet. He says they do know that when kids are sleep deprived, there are signs of weight gain, however, more research in this area is still needed.

Why is sleep so important? Getting enough quality sleep affects your weight, as well as other health issues. When you’re getting that 7.5 hours of quality sleep each night, he says everything from circulation to a reduction in blood pressure (or hypertension) will be enjoyed, as well as weight loss. When you’re sleep deprived, he explains that the metabolism slows and you get more of some hormones and less of others. Ghrelin is the “go” hormone, it tells you to eat, and leptin is the "stop" hormone, it tells you to stop eating. “It’s a pretty bad situation when you have more go and not enough stop,” explains Breus, and it’s this discrepancy in hormone levels that prevents us from losing and enables us to gain weight. In fact, when we’re feeling sleep deprived, he referenced a study from the University of Chicago in which they found people are more likely to choose high-fat, high-carb foods over healthier choices.