Essential Oils: Essential Oils (The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Uncovering the Healing Benefits of Aromatherapy) (26 page)

There are two simple reasons why waking up early will help you lose weight. They are called Ghrelin and Leptin.

Don’t be alarmed by the strange-sounding names. These aren’t any new diet or exercise programs. They are nothing but hormones that influences your appetite.

Ghrelin stimulates hunger within the body and Leptin is responsible for informing your system when you are feeling full so that you don’t eat more than what is necessary or required.

According to a report published by the Public Library of Science (PLOS), your BMI (Body Mass Index) is influenced by the timing of your body’s exposure to light. That is when you wake-up early, your body is exposed to sunlight and this regulates the production of Ghrelin and Leptin within your body, which directly influences your appetite and how much you eat.

The hormones, Ghrelin and Leptin also influence your preference for physical activity. That is, when you wake up early you feel more energized and therefore are eager to exercise or can perform any physical activity more easily or effortlessly than when you wake up late.

So, without a doubt, waking up early is one of the most important habits, which is integral to enabling you to lose weight effortlessly because it regulates the hormones within your body which control how much you eat and how much energy you have for performing physical activity.

To put it simply, when you wake-up early, you eat right and you have the right amount of energy to perform any physical activity like an early morning exercise. Moreover, performing certain exercises in the morning before breakfast has immense weight-loss benefits as I will demonstrate in another chapter in this book.

How weight and sleep are connected?

There’s growing evidence that people who wake up early have a lower BMI than those who wake up later in the day. One of the most significant reasons for this difference in BMI is because those who wake up early also go to sleep early and therefore have at least 6 hours or more of sleep. Why?

That’s because waking up early also regulates the secretion of the hormone Melatonin, which is responsible for inducing sleep.

When you get up later in the morning, it inhibits the release of Melatonin, which in turn makes it harder for a person to sleep, resulting in disturbed or delayed sleep patterns. Another negative effect is that this also causes a lot of stress because it triggers the release of cortisol which adversely affects your appetite and metabolism.

Lack of sleep has also known to reduce your body’s sensitivity to insulin which can lead to diabetes and obesity.

In fact, a report published in the Oxford Journals shows that there is a strong relation between sleep duration and weight gain. According to the study, it has been found that those who slept for five hours or less are 15% more likely to gain weight or develop obesity problems than those who slept for seven hours or more.

The quality of your sleep and the number of hours you sleep also plays a key role in balancing your circadian rhythm.

This means that you function better when you have had a restful night’s sleep and when you wake up early as the sun rises.

Wake up to a success secret.

Now you know why people who wake up early feel energized. It’s simply because exposing your body to early morning light will enable you to eat right, exercise well and stay healthy.

But that’s not all. Did you know that you can also be more successful if you get up early?

It has been noted according to a Harvard Business Review report that people are better positioned for success if they are productive in the morning than in the evening. People had more energy and performed better in the mornings than in the evenings in a study conducted by a biologist, Christoph Randler.

The argument for making an early start is evident in the habits of successful people, from famous artists and writers to CEOs. Vladimir Nabakov is said to start his day by six in the morning. Warren Buffet is known to wake up at 4:30 am. So, if you want to be healthy, rich and famous, then waking up early is definitely one of the first steps in the right direction.

Starting early however is not enough. Starting with the right attitude and habits is. In this book, you will learn about healthy morning habits which will not only help you to lose weight but also feel energized all day long and live a healthier and fuller life.

However, it is not easy to wake up early unless you implement a series of deliberate steps to ensure it becomes a habit. How do you do this? I will share with you a systematic approach to getting up early that has worked for me. Please note that you may not succeed immediately but over time, you will enjoy getting up early, when you see the immense benefits reflected in the mirror and in the weighing scale.

ACTION PLAN

How to wake-up early, regularly?

• Sleep early.
  That is right, the first step to waking up early begins with going to bed early. To start your morning right, start at night. Plan and schedule your day’s activity so that you are ready for bed in time. Ensure that you have adequate sleep which can range between 6 to 8 hours. Don’t ever kid yourself by saying you need less sleep. Figure out how much sleep you need by experimenting. When you wake up you should feel well rested and refreshed. If you are groggy and grumpy, then it is a sure sign that you haven’t had enough sleep. What to do about late nights? Avoid them. It’s just a question of planning your day. If any unexpected delays occur and you have a late night due to travel, work or social activities, then treat them as an exception but try to wake up early according to your usual time. You can make up for the lost sleep by sleeping a little early for the next few days, so that your wake-up schedule remains steady and undisturbed.
  
• Make getting up a one way street.
  In other words, skip the snooze button or any other temptation to slide back into sleep. How can you do this? There are many tricks to do this. One of my favourites is what a character in a John Grisham novel does. He puts the alarm clock in the bathroom near the washbasin. So when the alarm rings, he has no option but to get up and go to the bathroom to turn it off, and he invariably ends up washing his face and the cold water never fails to wake him up. You don’t have to go to that extreme. A simple method is to keep the alarm clock away from bed so that you have to get up in order to turn it off and that way you are less tempted to press the snooze button. Another important thing is to remember that you need to have a realistic wake-up time. Whether it is 5am or 6am, prepare a schedule and make sure you can stick to it. If you feel that you are waking up too early, then you will always be tempted to sleep a little longer.
  
• Motivate your mind by visualizing.
  Think of why you are getting up early. Whether it is to lose weight or be more successful, create a mental picture of your objective. This will inspire you to stay focused when you wake-up and prevent you from going back to bed. It’s a simple technique that sports people and actors as well as most successful people use. When an athlete crouches at the starting point of a race, he or she imagines breasting the finishing ribbon or when an actor or actress has to step on stage or face the camera, they imagine the applause and appreciation of the audience. Similarly, you can visualize the results that you will get by waking up early and thereby find the inspiration to stay motivated.
  
• Do something immediately.
  Whether it is drinking a glass of water, making notes, planning for the day or meditating, doing something as soon as you are up will help you set a routine. It activates your mind and helps you focus immediately and follow a wake-up routine.
  
• Create the right environment.
  Just like it helps to sleep better in a dark room, it helps to wake-up feeling refreshed if you see brightness after you wake-up. Turn on the bedside light or part the curtains or open the windows to breath in the freshness and witness daylight breaking across the skies. It need not be visual but can also be an auditory stimulation such as turning on the radio or some music to set the mood for the day.
  

Now that you have the dos, let’s also briefly take a look at the don’ts, which can sabotage your plans to wake up early.

• Caffeine, nicotine or sugar can keep you awake by interfering with your brain and your body. Don’t drink coffee or smoke late at night or consume anything with caffeine or eat anything sweet that may keep you awake or prevent you from sleeping.
  
• So can alcohol. Don’t consume alcohol at night because it can disrupt your sleep pattern even though it is wrongly assumed that it can help you sleep.
  
• Watching TV or working on the computer can also adversely affect your sleep. As we learnt earlier, exposure to light can suppress melatonin production which prevents you from sleeping. It also stimulates the mind and keeps your brain active preventing sleep. Similarly, reading from a backlit electronic device such as a tablet or e-reader can have the same effect.
  
• Don’t worry if you fail to get up as planned. Go gradual because you can’t change your sleeping habits overnight. Slowly, start sleeping a few minutes early and waking up a few minutes earlier than before. Then gradually, move towards your wake-up time goal, day by day or even week by week.
  
• Turn off all the lights in the bedroom, close the curtains and keep any mirrors that may reflect light away from your bedroom. That is creating the right environment, which is dark and cosy to induce sleep. What if you have to go to the bathroom at night? Keep a flashlight handy near your bedside table so that you don’t have to turn on the lights.
  

Follow these simple steps and you will soon sleep soundly and wake-up refreshed and rested. Over time, you will notice encouraging signs when you step on the weighing scale and when you step into your clothes.

Drinking water as soon as you wake-up has many health benefits, one of which is it will help you lose weight.

How? Here are three scientifically proven ways in which drinking water when you wake up contributes to losing weight.

First of all, when you drink water, it boosts your metabolism. That is when you have been sleeping for 6 to 8 eight hours, your body gets dehydrated. When your body is dehydrated, its metabolic functions slow down which means that your body’s ability to burn calories is diminished.

When you drink water, as soon as you wake up, it fires up your metabolism and your body immediately revs up its calorie-burning and fat-shedding qualities.

Another way in which drinking water early in the morning helps you lose weight is by filling up your stomach. Did you know that on an empty stomach, the body tends to confuse thirst and hunger? So, instead of quenching your thirst, you feed your hunger and inadvertently, pack the pounds which you are so desperately trying to lose.

Drinking water in the morning immediately after you wake up prevents you from overeating.

The third and perhaps the healthiest reason why drinking water early in the morning can help you lose weight is that it helps your body to flush out the toxins. Water not only nourishes your body as we will see later in this chapter, but it also aids the kidneys to flush out unwanted toxins. During a day’s activity including while exercising and while sleeping, the body expends energy by burning calories which produces toxins. Processing nutrients absorbed from food produces a lot of waste.

Your body needs to repair, replenish energy, regulate the hormones and revive itself for a new day by flushing out unwanted waste. When you drink water as soon as you wake up, the process is kick-started. Drinking water in the morning has also been known to prevent constipation and stimulate healthy morning bowel movements. It also hydrates your skin and prevents it from showing signs of aging.

All you need to do is sip.

Now, which is easier said than done? Sweating a bucketful of water in a gym or drinking one liter of water in the morning? Doesn’t it make sense to inculcate this simple habit of drinking water in the morning, as soon as you wake up?

You’ve got nothing to lose and a lifetime of amazing health benefits to gain. Losing weight is the least of them if you take a look at the other health benefits of drinking water.

Consider these facts. Your body is made up of 70% water. 85% of the cells in your brain contain water. 75% of muscles are made up of water. Your bones have 25% water and your blood is made up of 82% water. So, is there any doubt water is an important ingredient to your health?

Do you realize why you feel energized when you drink water? It rehydrates your body, stimulates your brain and your metabolic system, thereby creating a surge of energy within your body, moments after you take sip.

It’s only water.

At this point, it is important to note that drinking coffee or soda, or even fruit juice or any dairy based shake can have the opposite effect of drinking plain water.

Most bodily functions, from respiration to perspiration, raise the acidic levels within your system. To optimally function, your body’s alkaline level which includes the alkaline in your blood, tissues and muscles needs to be maintained at 7.365.

This delicate balance can be upset when you consume beverages which have acidic content such as coffee, soda, alcohol, milk or fruit juice. Water is naturally alkaline in content but there is a simple way to increase its alkaline content and multiply its health benefits.

Simply squeeze a lemon or lime in to the water first thing in the morning.

Water with lemon has manifold health benefits because it contains electrolytes such as potassium, magnesium and calcium. Electrolytes soothe tired muscles, stimulate digestion, and have high anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidation properties. It also has vitamin C which boosts the body’s immune system to prevent infection and diseases.

The result, you not only lose weight, you are less likely to catch a cold or an infection and less likely to contract chronic diseases like cancer.

Another great alkaline source of electrolytes is fresh coconut water. Drinking coconut water first thing in the morning has been proven to contribute significantly to losing weight.