Want to lose fat in your middle age? Sleep on it.

Okay, so you're in your forties or more, and despite exercising regularly and eating well, you still can't seem to reduce your bodyfat and become leaner. What you may be missing is enough sleep.

In a study recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, a lack of deep sleep was associated with decreases in growth hormone (a hormone released by the pituitary gland that is necessary for normal growth in humans). Positive levels of growth hormone have long been associated with increases in muscle and decreases in fat tissue. As we age, we often change our sleep habits and get sleep fewer hours at a time than we did previously. The problem is that the highest levels of growth hormone are secreted later on in the sleep cycle, and if someone is waking after only 5-6 hours of sleep, they are not getting that extra GH.

A study done at the University of Chicago done on 149 healthy men aged 16 to 83 found that their percentage of overall deep sleep decreased by a factor of more than five and a half times from young adulthood to midlife. While no further decreases in the percentage deep sleep were found as the men aged beyond midlife, the total amount of sleep decreased by nearly a half an hour per decade. The drop in slow wave sleep from young adulthood to midlife accompanied a similar drop in growth hormone levels.

Growth hormone is lipolytic, meaning in has the ability to break down fat and it also acts to reduce and redistribute your fat stores. Obesity and reductions in growth hormone output go hand in hand, as proven by various research studies. Treatment of elderly individuals with growth hormone replacement has resulted in increases in lean body mass and decreases in fat mass. The inference is clear: poor and inadequate sleep can affect many aspects of your quality of life: athletic performance, work productivity, and even your immune response.

The important thing is to make sure you have both sufficient quantity of sleep and good quality sleep. Try to get 7-9 hours per night, and take steps to get a better night's sleep such as exercising regularly, eliminating stimulants and alcohol, eating smaller meals, having a carbohydrate snack 30 minutes before bed, and keeping regular sleeping hours. Improving your quantity/quality of sleep can definitely be your secret weapon to becoming leaner and healthier.

Be healthy, my friends.

(Journal of the American Medical Association, 2000, Vol. 284, No. 7, pp. 861-868: Hormone Research, 2000, Vol. 53. No, 5, pp. 215-220; Clinical Endocrinology, 1993, Vol. 38, No. 1, pp. 63-71)