“No matter what I do, I can’t seem to lose weight!”. This refrain is heard a lot, particularly at this time of year. In many cases it’s simply that the combination of exercise and diet require a little tweaking. In other instances it can be the case that a hormonal imbalance is lurking in the background, a hidden obstacle to weight loss.

Our hormones act as a control centre of sorts, regulating mood, sleep, energy levels and much more. Throw off this delicate balance and everything starts to deteriorate. Low energy, low mood and stubborn belly fat can all be symptoms of a hormonal imbalance.

If you feel your hormones may be holding you back talk to our in house expert Jade McClure and check out his bio-print testing which checks how your body stores fat and focuses on nutritional and natural supplements (vs prescription drugs). Alternatively, you can talk to your naturopath or doctor.

In the meantime, there are things you can do to help restore and maintain hormonal balance.

“What many people don’t realize is that one of the best ways they can keep their hormones balanced is by getting enough sleep each night”, Jade explains.

Sleep is the Key

“Lack of sleep decreases insulin sensitivity, decreases testosterone and growth hormones, increases the stress hormone cortisol, reduces leptin and increases ghrelin which in return increases your appetite throughout the day.

As you can see, when you aren’t getting enough sleep regularly you will have an extremely hard time with weight loss. Plus you will have a hard time finding the energy to eat well and exercise.

Sleep is the key to a lean, healthy body”.

 How much sleep is optimal?

Precision co-founder Craig Boyd suggests that sleep goals “Should be to get more than 8 hours per night. Your body physically repairs between the hours of 10pm – 2am and does mental repair between the hours of 2am – 6am. So if you are getting to sleep at midnight you may not be reaching a deep enough sleep to benefit from physical repair and hormone rebalancing.

Cut out alcohol

Alcohol affects your ability to get REM sleep which is needed for physical repair and hormone re-balancing.

Reduce or eliminate caffeine

Caffeine can stay in your system for an extended period of time. It has a half life of 5 – 6 hours so it’s best to restrict your caffeine intake to the morning”.

Consider Natural Supplements 

Jade‘s recommendations:

“Take a high quality Magnesium supplement before bed each night. Preferably it would be a magnesium glycinate, malate or threonate. Do not take magnesium oxide! There are too many reasons to list why this is so good for you but one of the main ones is the muscle relaxing benefits. Aim for 300+mg per night.

Also supplement with the amino acid L-Theanine before bed. This works extremely well with the magnesium. Theanine has a calming but non sedative effect. When taking Theanine you will find you sleep deeper and you won’t wake up feeling groggy which is nice. Aim for 400+mg per night”.

Thanks guys. Now turn off your screen and go get some sleep.