Got Belly Fat? Cortisol, Stress, Sleep, and What They Have In Common

Sleep usually isn’t the first thing you think about when you are considering ways to lose weight, but in reality, getting enough sleep is a crucial part of any diet plan. Sleep assists your body to function well - and it also helps fight against one of the natural causes of belly fat: cortisol. Let’s look at this closer.

Getting enough sleep lowers your stress level. When we have higher levels of stress, the stress triggers a chemical reaction inside of us that transfers us into “survival mode”. During this mode, our bodies produce a chemical called cortisol - and cortisol directly affects your belly fat. Cortisol basically tells us to save up fat reserves for the “difficult times ahead”.

Our lives today are generally filled with stress. Personal, social, financial and other obligations add to our stress levels on a regular basis. The incessant bombardment of informations and advertisments, “self-imposed famines" that we call “diets”, and much more all contribute to making our stress levels high - and as a result making ourselves fatter - than ever before. Belly fat cortisol production sky rockets inside of us due to stress.

If you want to decrease your belly fat, one rule you need to remember at all times is to simply relax and slow down. Allow your body the release and time it needs to produce endorphins (the feel-good chemicals that you want instead of belly fat cortisol). Having more endorphins in your body contributes to your feeling much more positive about everything - including your appearance.

The belly fat one rule of getting enough sleep also is very important for those of you who exercise or do muscle strengthening on a regular basis. Sleep gives your body time to repair itself.

Those achy muscles from strength training are caused by microscopic tears in your muscle tissues, and sleep allows your muscles to rebuild them stronger than before. Those “rebuilt” muscles are part of the increased lean muscle mass in your body, and the more lean muscle mass you have, the faster your body burns calories, even while at rest.

Getting enough sleep is not always easy or enjoyable. According to research, the majority of individuals do not get even close to the 7 to 10 hours your body requires. And if you want to get that lean body and fight belly fat cortisol, be sure to get enough sleep to ward off weight gain.

How can you make certain that you are getting adequate sleep? The easiest way to find out is to simply do a quick review of how many hours of sleep you are getting on a regular basis. If it isn’t much, look at what is keeping you up.

Video games, television, computer time, alcohol or caffeine, and others all serve as stimulants that keep you awake when you could be getting that precious sleep. Some quick tips for enhancing your sleep time are to avoid caffeine of any kind after noon, do some stretching or yoga, chat with a trusted friend, or journal about the stress in your life.

Try to avoid the use of sleeping aids, and it is entirely too easy to get addicted to them. Discuss them with a physician before usage.

Another great way to encourage good sleeping habits is to make your bedroom a quiet, peaceful place. Purchase some cheap foam earplugs to use if you are a light sleeper, get some heavy curtains to keep out the light in the early morning hours, wind down with a cup of chamomile tea and a good book, or with personal devotions.

These are all ways that you can help your body speed up your weight loss through getting enough sleep, how you can ward off the build up of belly fat, cortisol production, and more.

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There are several parts of a belly fat free cure that you can do at home, with very little effort. Getting enough sleep is only one of aspect in a successful diet! Find out the others at www.curebellyfatnow.com

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