In the category of things you should never do to lose weight,
this one tops the list. It’s called the Sleeping Beauty Diet, and it’s one heck
of a dangerous way to shed pounds.
Women in online
communities—particularly pro-anorexia communities—are encouraging each other to
take a sedative like Xanax to sleep at least 10 hours a day in order to avoid
eating, according to one report from Metro UK. Followers also
encourage one another to exercise and “severely restrict” calories during
the day.
The verdict: Don’t do it. Seriously.
“Abusing drugs to avoid
food is disordered way to look at losing weight,” says registered dietitian Amy
Shapiro, founder of Real Nutrition NYC. “Saying that you’re going to sleep
so you don’t eat and overexercising when you’re awake is disordered eating,”
she says. That’s especially true if you’re doing it to sleep at times you
normally want to eat. For example, starting at 3 p.m. in order to miss dinner.
Even less extreme versions of this diet may be
problematic: If you find yourself getting up in the middle of the night to
snack, or turning to food when you can't sleep, and want to take sleeping pills
to get your habits under control, you’re missing the bigger picture. Namely,
what are the underlying reasons you’re up and eating? Those are certainly
reasons to get treated by a professional—not self-treat with sedatives.
In fact, guidelines
released last year from the American College of Physicians suggest
that cognitive-behavioral therapy should be the first line treatment
for insomnia, not sleeping pills. And when they are prescribed, they are
usually only a short-term (think a few days) fix, not a long-term solution. Not
to mention, aside from teetering into eating-disorder territory,
sleeping pills also come with side effects like drowsiness the next
day (including drowsy driving), dizziness, sleepwalking—and, oh yeah, sleep
eating.
That being said, sleep (healthy sleep)
is vital for helping you maintain or lose weight. “Research shows that
when you’re tired during the day because you haven’t gotten enough sleep, your
body calls for sugar or caffeine in order to give you the energy that you’re
lacking,” says Shapiro. The cravings you have for junk food are real the next
day—one 2017 study found people scarf an additional 385 calories after a
poor night’s sleep. Adequate Z’s also help your body regulate hunger hormones
(which tell your body to grab a snack or to stop eating, you’re full) as well
as others like cortisol. Too high levels of the stress hormone prompt your body
to pack on pounds.
The takeaway? Aim to get
seven to eight hours of sleep per night, the amount you need to function at
your best. If you have problems sleeping, see a doctor or possibly a sleep
specialist. But skip the Sleeping Beauty Diet, please.
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