Do you know that over the last 50 years we have reduced the amount of time we spend asleep by up to two hours a night? A huge number of us get less than eight hours sleep a night. You might think there's nothing wrong with that, but do you realize that in the same period, the number of people who are either overweight or obese has increased dramatically. Is there a connection? Scientists believe there is.

How much sleep do you get every night? Not as much as you thought? What sort of sleep do you have? Do you sleep all the way through the night or do you normally have a disturbed night. Do you wake up frequently?

People are beginning to realize that the amount of sleep we get is very important. Unfortunately, we live in an age where it is very easy to be caught up in general 'busyness' or hijacked by a late night television program.

What scientists have discovered is that when we don't get enough sleep our body sends a powerful signal to our brain to say that it's not had enough rest. The brain interprets this as being an energy deficit and immediately fires up our appetite.

Being a thoroughly efficient organism, the body tries to replace this supposed energy deficit by requesting high-calorie, high-energy food such as candy and sweetened cereals. Now you know why you want frosted flakes at breakfast time!

It's not difficult to see why weight gain can be a consequence of lack of sleep. We need to have between 7 and 8 hours sleep every night if we are to be able to work to our optimum. If we continually have less sleep than we need, the more overweight we are likely to become and the quality of the sleep that we do get will be poor.

If you are looking to lose weight permanently, it's important that you get the right amount of sleep. Get into the habit of sleep and you will make your weight loss efforts so much easier.

The interesting thing about establishing a new habit is that it takes repetition and practice...sleep? Now there's a challenge!