Sleep better to lose weight after weight loss surgery

When you don’t sleep at night nothing seems to go well the next day. Even after having weight loss surgery, missing out on sleep can drastically interfere with your weight loss efforts. And contrary to popular belief, making up sleep isn’t as simple as getting a few extra hours of shuteye in over the weekends. For proper health you need to be getting a good amount of sleep every night—ideally close to eight hours.

Between the new dietary habits, support group meetings and exercise efforts that you have going on after your weight loss surgery, you might be calculating how to add more hours to your day rather than how much longer you can sleep. Don’t make the mistake of cutting hours from your night in an attempt to power through your day. Sleep is when you -charge your batteries, relax and push the day’s worries out of your head. Skipping out on it can lead to some pretty serious health complications, like a weak immune system, increased risk of migraines and cravings for unhealthy foods for quick energy.

Developing healthy sleeping habits is one thing you don’t need to wait long after weight loss surgery to get started on. Here are a few tips for getting more shuteye night after night:

• Turn everything off. A lot of people leave the television on as they drift off to sleep. Even if you are able to ignore the TV and fall asleep, the TV could be obstructing your ability to sleep soundly. Ideally, you should sleep in a dark space that is free of external noises and distractions.
• Tell Fido no. Sleeping with pets on the bed is just asking for nighttime disruptions. It might be cute to cuddle with your best friend, but if your dog or cat tends to get up, stand on you or start barking throughout the night then it is time to push them off to the next room.
• Cut down on caffeine. You don’t need to eliminate coffee from your diet, but maybe you should cut out your last cup of the day if you are having trouble falling asleep at night.
• Exercise regularly. You don’t need to exercise right before going to bed to get the biggest sleep benefit. In fact, exercising helps a lot of people to wake up, so working out in the morning or after work might make a lot more sense. Just taking part in physical activity—at whatever point of the day—can improve your quality of sleep.

Don’t overlook your sleeping habits as you develop your new healthy lifestyle after weight loss surgery. For more advice on how to become healthier outside of your weight loss efforts talk with your bariatric surgeon.