On the surface, sleep and weight loss may seem to be two completely different, unrelated areas of health. However, they are so, so connected. To start, there are the direct, physiological connections. For example, metabolism is regulated during sleep. Then there are the more indirect (but still incredibly important) connections.
Someone who is not getting enough deep, quality sleep will have a really hard time waking up for that workout before the responsibilities of the day need to be addressed. After a long day, someone sleep deprived is going to be even less likely to follow through with that workout later in the day. This holds true for nutrition, too. Someone who is not getting enough deep, quality sleep is going to be extra tempted to grab whatever is easily available to eat instead of taking the effort to plan and prepare healthy meals.
There’s more. Certain components of the diet (such as insufficient nutrients and too much unhealthy food) and lack of exercise interfere with sleep. This creates a cycle of unhealthy behaviors and increased health risks, perpetuating sleep deprivation and weight gain. More and more, this cycle is reinforced.
The sleep and weight downward spiral is a challenge, that’s for sure. The best thing about challenges is that they are really opportunities in disguise. The downward spiral of poor sleep and weight gain can be reversed to promote weight loss and great sleep.
Before we go any further into the opportunity of sleep and weight loss, I want to make something very clear. Weight is not an ideal measure of health. Sometimes we, as a society, can get way too fixated on the numbers on the scale. Yes, there are connections between obesity and morbidity.
Harsh truth: There are also connections between morbidity and unhealthy weight loss practices such as extreme diet and exercise. Generally speaking, it’s the extreme at both ends that cause the most health issues.
If you want someone to walk you through how to starve yourself and exercise yourself into ground, this is not for you. This is for those who want to make healthy lifestyle changes to improve their overall health. For those who are overweight due to unhealthy lifestyle components (such as sleep, stress, nutrition, and activity habits, etc.), weight loss will happen naturally with healthy lifestyle changes.
Now, back to the opportunity.
If the sleep and weight cycle is an issue, then addressing them both at the same time is a great way to get incredible results.
So, how can sleep and weight-related behaviors be addressed at the same time?
One of the biggest objections to prioritizing sleep, nutrition, and physical activity at the same time is that they all take extra time. Yes, that is a valid concern, and there are some ways to turn the time challenge into an opportunity.
Set goals, plan behaviors, schedule plans, and follow a routine!
A lot of it comes down to making decisions ahead of time and sticking to them. It’s a lot easier to make decisions that promote health 24 hours before we intend to follow through with them than it is in the moment. For example, consider how likely you are to decide on a healthy meal, workout, and early bedtime when you’re sitting on the couch moments before those planned activities. Then consider the same decision, but for tomorrow. There’s a reason so many memes are created about starting a diet and workout plan tomorrow. It delays the challenge. The good news is that we can turn this challenge into an opportunity. We can plan ahead, prove to ourselves that we can stick to that plan, and then actually reach those big goals.
There’s a six-step process to develop a personalized way to achieve what you want to achieve – and to follow through with it!
Step 1: Set goals.
First, determine your priorities and set specific goals based on those priorities. What is most important to you? If your like could look different next year in only one area, what would that be? You may decide that one area is your health (including sleep and weight loss). Alternatively, you may decide it’s a different area. That’s okay. This process works with any type of goal so you can use it and continue the process.
Once you have determined your priorities, set one specific goal for your top priority. You can go through the process again for multiple goals for each priority but start with one. Your goal, for example, may be to get enough sleep for your body and mind to function well. Make it specific by deciding to get at least eight hours of sleep per night. Alternatively, your first goal could be related to weight. Perhaps your doctor told you that you need to lose a specific amount of weight. You could use that number to make the goal specific.
Note: While sleep and weight loss need to be tackled at the same time for optimal results, too many changes all at once can sometimes be overwhelming. It may be better to adjust to one for a week or so before starting on the other. It may take a little longer to get everything started. However, both will still be addressed simultaneously after the initial adjustment phase.
With a specific goal, you are ready to move on to the next step.
Step 2: Plan behaviors.
Second, determine the specific behaviors you will need to change in order to reach your specific goal. Consider all the things you are currently doing now that are preventing you from reaching that goal. Why hasn’t that goal already been met?
Pro tip: Drop the self-judgement and analyze this with the mind of a neutral bystander! There’s absolutely no benefit in beating yourself up over the current behaviors you don’t like. View them as a starting point and opportunities to change.
Maybe you have activities scheduled in the evening or make it a habit to scroll through your phone (procrastinate) for a while before finishing your pre-bed chores or work. Perhaps you haven’t exercised in a while or reach for the junk food to comfort yourself when you feel emotions you don’t want to feel. Whatever it is, recognize the current reality.
You may determine that you need to drop an activity or behavior that isn’t serving you or isn’t a top priority. That’s a wonderful realization. You may decide you need to start doing something new or change the way you do something else. Great and great!
Decide what needs to change, be specific, and then move on to the next step.
Step 3: Schedule plans.
Third, come up with specific schedule changes that will allow you to follow through with the behavior changes you planned in the previous step. What time will you go to bed at night, and what time will you need to have everything else finished to make that a reality? Will you exercise before work? Figure out when, daily and throughout the week, you will plan and cook or prep healthy meals. Put them in your calendar and set reminder alarms.
Think of these scheduled plans with yourself as you would a work meeting or lunch date with a friend, maybe even more seriously. After all, they are the behaviors that will help you reach your number one goal of your top priority. Why would you bump them for something less important to you?
Step 4: Make a routine.
Fourth, create daily routines. You may choose a morning routine, pre-sleep routine, work routine (to make sure you can get it all done efficiently enough to allow time for other things), after work routine, or some combination of these. Whatever you decide, make sure all your most important behavior changes fit into one of your new routines. This is extremely important so you aren’t going through your day struggling to follow through. You may be able to figure it out with willpower sometimes but making it part of a regular routine increases the odds of following through long-term and through the tough days.
Related: Easy Sleep Routine Changes to Fall Asleep and Stay Asleep
Step 5: Monitor and adjust your thoughts and follow through with your plans and routines.
Fifth, notice your thoughts, listen to them, and change the ones that are not serving you and your top priority. Many people are able to get through the prioritization, goal setting, planning, scheduling and routine phases just fine, but then struggle to follow through. The ability to follow through rests more on our thoughts than external forces outside our control. Sure, things are bound to happen, adjustments will need to be made along the way, and things will shift over time. However, the decision to give up and quit or to find a way to make it happen long-term depends on us, which is determined by our thoughts.
Make sure you’re thinking the thoughts you need to think to do what you want to do and reach your goals. When unwanted thoughts pop into your mind (because they will), acknowledge them, figure out if they are serving you, consciously decide what you want to think, and change your thoughts as needed.
Step 6: Get support when needed.
Sixth, recognize when you need outside support to reach your goals and make it happen. Everyone needs some kind of support in some areas to reach those super stretch goals. It’s just not possible to go through life and achieve all the biggest goals without any support ever. Sure there may be phases of going at it alone, but be honest with yourself and know when you are and are not in those phases. If you find you never need support for anything, I challenge you to consider if all your goals are too low. You may choose to stay comfortable forever, and that’s okay, it’s a personal choice and no answer is right or wrong. However, it could be right or wrong for me, you, or someone else.
Are you a person who wants to stay comfortable or grow and evolve into a different version of yourself? If you want to grow, how much do you want to grow, and when? I’m all for digging in on your own… to a point. Know that point for you and get the support you need during the phases you need it.
Need a little support with any or all the steps of this five-step process? Click here to learn more about how we can work together to make your goals reality.
You now know all you need to know to shift the challenge of the sleep and weight downward spiral into an opportunity. I’ll be cheering you on as you take on this opportunity and move on to other priorities on your list! Send me an email at aolivine@epigenwellness.com and let me know how it goes.
What you need to know about sleep and weight loss:
- Sleep and weight loss are directly connected as metabolism is regulated during sleep, and without enough quality sleep, metabolic issues arise.
- It’s really hard to follow through with healthy behaviors long-term without enough quality sleep. Plus, unhealthy behaviors interfere with sleep, creating a downward spiral.
- There is a huge opportunity in addressing sleep and changing weight-related behaviors at the same time. The best way to do this is to make lifestyle changes that promote health, and the weight loss will come naturally as needed.
- Go through the six-step process to flip the challenge to an opportunity. Set the goals you want to achieve, plan the behaviors you will change to reach those goals, schedule the behaviors, create daily routines to ensure consistency, check your thoughts to follow through, and seek support when needed.
Know you will need more than a few articles to get enough quality sleep consistently?
This blog post relates to opportunity (the opportunity of sleep and weight loss). Here are more blog posts related to the word “opportunity” (but not sleep and weight loss) from other sites.