This is the surprising reason you can’t get rid of your unwanted belly fat
It's got nothing to do with your diet or exercise
NUTRITIONIST, exercise physiologist and author Kathleen Alleaume shares her expert advice...
We ALL want a flat stomach. No surprise there.
But since many are still relying on a countless number of sit-ups to get it, I’ll just make one thing clear:
There are less painful and longer lasting ways to get the amazing middle we crave.
Your waistline
As much as you hate to hear it, there’s no silver bullet to fighting belly fat.
You have to go back to the basics: Eat a balanced diet and make fitness part of your everyday life.
And it's important to do so, as hidden fat around your waist has been found to 'increase the risk of an early death from heart attack and cancer'. Scary stuff.
But while belly fat can still accumulate for those who exercise regularly and maintain a decent diet, what’s most often overlooked is the amount of shut-eye we get each night.
Scientists have known for years that sleep deprivation has all sorts of ramifications, especially on how fat cells function. Research indicates that too little slumber reduces your fat cells’ ability to respond properly to the hormone insulin, which is crucial for regulating energy storage and use.
In other words, our fat cells also need sleep to function properly otherwise they too, can get ‘metabolically’ groggy.
Over time the disruption to insulin is responsible not only for an unsightly ‘muffin top’, but can also be a risk factor for type 2 diabetes, heart attacks and stroke.
Insulin also has a knock-on effect on appetite-controlling hormones: leptin and ghrelin.
Leptin is responsible for telling your brain that it is satisfied or full. Ghrelin tells you when you are hungry.
When we don’t get enough sleep, our leptin levels drop and ghrelin levels rise — an effect that increases our appetite during the hours where we are awake, meaning we tend to eat more, but feel less satisfied.
But it’s rare you’ll reach for carrots when you’re tired. Instead, people crave high-sugar/high-fat foods for an energy hit to get them through the day.
This brings us back to insulin, which determines whether food gets used right away for immediate energy, or stored as fat. Eat the wrong kind of foods, chances are it’s the latter.
The science behind it
More than one in five Brits suffer from insomnia, according to the world’s largest sleep report unveiled this week.
The report, commissioned by The Sealy Sleep Census and conducted by Loughborough University, surveyed over 11,000 respondents across five countries, with the majority (3,989 respondents) living in the UK.
Men were found to lose 28 minutes of sleep a night on average, adding up to five days a year, while women were losing nearly an hour (56 minutes) every night, totalling 10 days a year.
A massive 70 per cent of respondents said they would function better at work if they slept better - while 76 per cent said they personal life suffered because of a lack of sleep.
And out of four countries polled - China, Australia, South Korea and the UK - we were the least likely to leap out of bed in the morning.
“It is easy to trade sleep for another activity without recognising the consequences, however, what people need to realise, is that quality sleep is equally as important as nutrition and exercise. A lack of sleep has been linked to obesity, diabetes, heart issues and even increases the likelihood to catch a common cold,” said Doctor Amy Reynolds, sleep expert and researcher at CQ University.
Some 23 per cent of people polled blamed their partner using an electronic device in the bedroom for keeping them awake.
“A hormone called melatonin helps to prepare the body for sleep. Levels of melatonin rise in the evening before bed, but blue light from devices can throw this off as the light sends the wrong cue to the brain — so, when we are wanting to sleep we are giving our brains a signal that we are awake” adds Reynolds.
The NHS recommend that adults should get eight hours of sleep a night.
What can we take away from this?
A well-rounded exercise regimen, nutrition and reducing stress are all important factors in reducing belly fat and improving general health, but you can’t ignore the role of sleep.
The more you get, the more fat you burn — so you can put crunches last on your flat-belly list.