While it is widely known that adequate sleep is necessary for optimal mental performance, most do not know that adequate sleep can help prevent weight gain. Although people burn more calories when they're awake than when they are asleep (though your body still burns calories while sleeping!), those who are awake the most hours are often overweight. Read on to learn about this counter-intuitive phenomenon.

Nutrition Facts and Figures
Research shows that the number of hours slept influences an individual's risk of obesity. Many studies suggest that in both children and adults, the less they sleep, the heavier they are.  At Columbia University, researchers found that people who slept six hours per night were 23 percent more likely to be obese than people who slept between seven and nine hours. Those who slept five hours were 50 percent more likely-while those who slept four hours or less were 73 percent more likely-to be obese.

Why is this so?
The fact that sleep deprivation is linked to obesity may have to do with what happens to your body when you deprive it of sleep. Two hormones are affected by sleep deprivation:

1) Leptin, which is released by fat cells, signals the brain to stop eating.

2) Ghrelin, which is made in the stomach and small intestine, signals the brain to keep eating.

These hormones influence how much one eats eat. Studies have shown that leptin levels are lower and ghrelin levels are higher in people who sleep fewer hours . Both of these hormone changes trigger you to eat more-therefore, the less you sleep the hungrier you are!

Another reason why those who are sleep deprived eat more may be due to the brain's response to leptin. When leptin levels decrease, the brain considers this a sign of starvation...and responds by slowing down one’s metabolism and burning fewer calories. As a result, it becomes easier to put on weight since calories are burned at a slower rate.

In addition to having these hormonal changes signaling an individual to eat more, those who sleep less are also awake for more hours...hours during which they can eat more!

Obesity Can Also CAUSE Lack of Sleep
Another reason for the correlation between obesity and decreased sleep is a condition called obstructive sleep apnea, or sleep apnea . Sleep apnea is a condition where an individual's airway becomes obstructed, often by a large amount of fat tissue in the neck. The result is a cutoff in airflow, causing one to wake up numerous times throughout the night. Obesity is thus a major contributing factor for sleep apnea, and is often listed as one of its main causes. Sleep apnea is not a minor problem-10 years ago it was estimated that about 40 million Americans had sleep apnea and the number has likely increased greatly since2. Sleep apnea increases one's risk for developing high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, diabetes, suffering strokes, and for having accidents during the day.

My Advise:
The less we sleep the more at risk we are for obesity, and the more obese we get the more at risk we are for sleep disorders. Along with following a healthy, well-balanced diet and engaging in regular physical exercise, getting at least 7-8 hours of sleep per night is an important factor in maintaining a healthy weight.

Fat Burning Fairy Tale #10
We live in this world with shows like the Biggest loser and Celebrity Fit Club, where you see these people dropping 10-15 pounds a week. Because of this people automatically believe this is possible for everyone to achieve.  What they don't realize is that these shows take place in a controlled environment where all they do is workout and learn how to eat day in and day out without interference. When extreme weight loss does not work for the individual they get discouraged and quit. That's problem 1. 
Problem 2 is simple... lose weight to fast and you are sure to gain it back in no time..

It’s understandable that we all want to see results as quickly as possible, but when it comes to properly losing body fat, there are definite finite limits as to how much progress we can achieve within given time frames.

If your goal is to lose body fat, maintain muscle mass and achieve a lean, defined and athletic appearance, a gradual and steady approach is the only way to get there.

Any time you try to make drastic changes and drop large amounts of body weight over short periods of time, there will always be consequences. The human body is simply not designed to work that way, and the key to long-term, permanent fat loss is to work with your body rather than against it.

If you try to do too much too fast, your body will simply respond in a defensive way by slowing down the metabolism in order to conserve energy, wasting away lean muscle mass and secreting hormones that encourage fat storage.

While you might be able to get rid of a significant amount of body weight over the short term, you will inevitably experience rebound weight gain as the body fights to maintain a balanced state. You’ll eventually end up with more stored fat, a slower metabolism and a body that is programmed to gain weight easily.

So while it may be possible to “lose 20 pounds in 20 days”, this sort of method is unhealthy, ineffective and will actually make things even harder for you over the long-term.

If you’re serious about achieving high quality, long-lasting improvements in your body composition, a patient and gradual approach is truly the only way to get there.

If your program is structured properly, you should expect to experience an overall fat loss of roughly 1-2 pounds per week.

Any more than this and you’re simply moving too quickly. You’ll be dropping lean body mass at too fast of a rate, and will be increasing the likelihood of your body’s starvation responses coming into play.

If you really want to make this happen, then you’ve got to be patient and accept that the results won’t come over night. You can certainly see “fast” results in a relative sense, but if you’re expecting to lose 15 pounds for that wedding 3 weeks away, forget about it.

For those of you just joining us this is a 12 week series.  I will be providing 12 Fat Burning Fairy Tales over the course of time, so one myth per week... Please leave questions and comments below...

Fat Burning Fairy Tale #7

“You can target fat loss from a specific area on your body by training it with resistance.”

 This is known as the fallacy of “spot reduction”, which states that training a particular muscle group on the body using resistance will cause fat to be lost from that area.

Simply understanding that this notion is downright false and untrue will save you a boatload of time and effort in the gym.

You cannot target fat loss from a specific area on your body!

When you train a specific area of your body, you are simply stimulating the muscles that are involved in the movement. However, this has no effect at all on the stored body fat in and around that area.

Training your biceps with weights does not burn fat from your bicep area. Training your abs with weights does not burn fat from your abdominal area. Training your thighs with weights does not burn fat from your thigh area.

Am I getting my point across?

Fat is simply a stored form of energy, and when stimulated to release it for use as fuel through diet and exercise, the body will simply pull it from wherever it sees fit.

However, there is no way to manipulate your training program to cause certain areas to slim down faster than others.

Every time you train, your goal is simply to stimulate an increase in the size and strength of the muscles. This in turn will increase your resting metabolic rate and will aid you in developing a shaped and defined looking body.

However, don’t think that as you’re physically lifting those weights that you are directly melting fat from the areas that you’re training.

A properly structured  training program is designed with the sole purpose of stimulating muscle growth and maintenance. This is accomplished through the use of basic free weight or body weight exercises performed to a high level of intensity.