Limit caffeine or nicotine on a daily basis, especially after 3:00 p.m. A consistent pre-be... New Thoughts On Sleep, Weight Lo

If sleeping your way to weight loss isn't fun enough, here's another idea: Get out of your rut to lose weight. Forget about what you eat all together, and just try something new, every day.

Ben Fletcher, of the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom, found that getting people to break routines caused weight loss. He studied 55 volunteers from age 23 to 61 for six months. For one month volunteers picked a different option from 15 pairs of behaviors, such as lively/quiet, reactive/proactive, introvert/extrovert. Participants in the study acted the way they chose all day. It was a big switch for an extrovert to become a wallflower or an introvert to become queen-for-the-day. In addition, two times each week they were required to do something completely out of the ordinary, such as take a new route to work or take an extra 15-minute break.

Volunteers lost an average of 11 pounds after four months; some subjects had shed as many as 40 pounds by the end of the first year. Most retained their weight loss after six months and reported less anxiety and depression. I wonder if they slept better, too.

Changing habits and routines causes people to think more about personal decisions. While the effort uses more energy, at the same time the process energizes life, providing the "space" to tackle other changes in life.

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