The undisputed number one cause of sleepless nights is excessive stress. Almost everyone has experienced transient insomnia the night before a job interview, big presentation, or other significant event. Transient insomnia usually passes after the stress-inducing event has been conquered. Chronic insomnia is more serious because it can affect a person for an extended period of time.

And if being tired from sleepless nights isn’t bad enough, many of us have an automatic response of eating more food. Feeling tense? Reach for a cookie or a candy bar.

Cookies, candy, potato chips, and most other comfort foods, actually can alter your mood. They set off emotional and chemical reactions in your body that can temporarily make you feel happier, calmer, or more powerful. When your stress meter goes up, food can have a calming affect—but only for a short time. It also brings many problems, starting with weight gain. Stress eating is often followed by painful self-judgment and feeling defeated, which can actually drive you to reach for more food. You feel guilty, mad at yourself and believe something's wrong with you.

But wait a minute.  Maybe it’s not lack of willpower that’s responsible for your stress eating. Scientific studies show that the hormones that affect your appetite can get out of whack when you don’t sleep well and are stressed.  For example, the hormone leptin, which regulates the metabolism of carbohydrates and signals the body when it should feel full and make fat, can be significantly lowered by lack of sleep. And stress can cause you not to sleep well.  When there are low levels of leptin, the body craves extra food, especially carbohydrates, regardless of whether or not you’ve eaten enough food. 

Ghrelin, a hormone that triggers appetite has been found at higher levels in those who get too little sleep. Ghrelin also suppresses fat utilization in fat tissue. Additionally, cortisol, which is known as the stress hormone and plays a role in regulating appetite, goes up and causes fat to deposit especially around the belly and hips.  And if this hormone is secreted in high amounts during the night, you won’t be able to sleep well.  It’s all interrelated.

In Sleep Away the Pounds nutritionist Cherie Calbom, MS and psychotherapist John Calbom, MA show you how to balance your hormones, curb your cravings, manage your stress, sleep better, and lose weight.

Here’s what you’ll learn in Sleep Away the Pounds:

Step 1: “Your Best Sleep Now” offers more than 60 tips that will help you get a great night’s sleep.

Step 2: “Quieting the Mind, Restoring the Soul” provides excellent information and techniques to help calm your mind, thus enabling you to sleep well, which will reduce the stress hormones that pack on the pounds and cause you to feel out of control during the day.

Step 3: “Exercising for Better Sleep and a Slimmer You” offers a comprehensive work out program so you can increase growth hormone, which helps you sleep better at night and build more muscle.

Step 4: “The Optimum Diet for Sound Sleep and Super Weight Loss” shows you how diet effects your sleep as well as your waistline. Follow the 21-Day Plan for weight loss success and the best sleep possible. 

 Support Your Body Nutritionally

•  Ginseng, especially Chinese (Panax ginseng), helps the body deal with stress. Ginseng is known to increase the tone and function of the adrenal glands. It is also known to help a person cope with stress. 
•  Acanthopanex and Dan Seng, also called pink ginseng, help strengthen and balance your central nervous system and hormonal system and restore your natural sleep cyle. 
•  Magnesium has a sedating effect on the nervous system and is one of the nutrients frequently deficient in the American diet. Low levels of magnesium predispose us to stress and contribute to insomnia. 
•  Vitamin B6 and pantothenic acid are important for adrenal support during times of stress. 
•  Vitamin C supports the adrenal glands. Urinary excretion is increased when you are stressed.  A good vitamin C that includes flavonoids is recommended for best utilization. 

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