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Apr 28

A Good Night’s Sleep Could Help You Lose Weight – NBCNews.com

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Trucker-turned-fitness-instructor Siphiwe Baleka Brooke Partridge

To get back in shape, the trucker worked out at rest stops, gas stations and parks on his downtime.

"I started to think, 'Hey, there is a fitness and nutrition program for everyone in America except long-haul truck drivers," he said.

Getting back in shape inspired Baleka to found Fitness Trucking, an award-winning fitness program for truck drivers. Baleka knew from experience that truckers are faced with a unique set of challenges. According to him, not only are they sedentary for long periods of time, but they lack one of the most vital components of a healthy metabolism: sleep.

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"You have all these severe limitations and restrictions and with your schedule always changing it throws off your circadian rhythms, [which] has an effect on your hormone production and in particular the hormones that regulate your metabolism," explained the fitness instructor.

The hormones that regulate hunger are produced while we sleep, according to Baleka. When you don't get enough sleep, you don't get enough of the hormones that maintain a healthy, efficient metabolism, he explained.

"Ultimately the result is the circadian rhythms are disrupted, the hormone production is thrown out of whack, and drivers literally lose the ability to regulate their metabolism or their hunger," he said.

The sleep-deprived put on pounds as these hormonal imbalances throw the metabolic system out of whack, causing them to overeat or skip meals entirely, Baleka said.

According to the former trucker, you can speed up your metabolism by taking the right steps to improve your night-time habits.

Baleka recommends purchasing a wearable sleep tracker that can help you track your sleep and measure fatigue levels throughout the day.

"Just by being aware of them, you can start to correct and normalize them," he explained.

Going to bed at the same time every night and waking up at the same time every morning establishes a routine for a normal sleep pattern, Baleka said.

"You want to set a routine where you condition your body ahead of that time to know that that's what's coming," he instructed.

Light-stimulation from electronic devices trick the body into thinking it's still daylight, according to Baleka. He said it's important to wean yourself off about an hour before bed.

"The light stimulation is one of the things that can cause people to have difficulty falling asleep. So by turning off the electronic stuff you're not exposing yourself to those light rays that can keep you up," he said.

Baleka recommends a zero-electronics policy in the bedroom.

"Take the electronic stuff out of your bedroom and only use your bed for sleeping or sex," he advised.

The fitness instructor recommended a cup of camomile tea known for its calming effects and reading a book before hitting the sack.

"For a lot of people you can get one to two pages into a book and you're knocked out," he said.

"You do all of [these steps] and you do them consistently, you will train your body [to think] 'Hey, when I enter this environment, that's the signal for me to go to sleep,'" Baleka concluded.

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A Good Night's Sleep Could Help You Lose Weight - NBCNews.com

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