Sleep .. glorious sleep. You never appreciate the fact that sleeping is a daily function until you can't sleep. Without sleep, prolactin, which is a pituitary hormone that induces lactation and prevents ovulation, keeps escalating. Going to sleep early caused cortisol levels to drop, and insulin levels lowered.
Wonderful things happen in the night if you go to sleep early enough. Early is between 9 to 10 p.m. I know, I know, nobody goes to sleep that early; it is one of the reasons we are in such poor health in our country. As a nation we're sick because we don't sleep. We are dying from cancer and heart disease from lack of sleep. Our healing hormones have no chance to do their work without sleep. When you lose sleep, you really can't catch up. Sleeping less than you need affects at least ten different hormones, not just melatonin. It changes appetite, fertility, and mental and cardiac health.
I tried this experiment on myself. I do eat correctly almost all the time, I do exercise in moderation regularly, my hormones are balanced, but there was some extra weight hanging around through the middle that I just couldn't shed. So for the past year, I have been going to bed at 9 and 10 in the evening most nights. Guess what? Without trying, without changing my eating program or changing my exercise routine, I lost ten pounds ... from sleeping!
And one more thing - you must sleep in complete darkness. Even the smallest bit of light keeps your cortisol from lowering. Plenty of sleep, increased vitality and energy, controlled weight because the lowered insulin at night helped to keep the weight at optimum. This is the way it is supposed to work.
Suzanne Somers
