The Sleep-Fat connection and how it impacts your fat reduction results

Kay: 00:01

The amount of sleep your patients get directly impacts their fat reduction results, no matter how skilled a practitioner you are or what technology you’ve used - cavitation, cryolipolysis, lipo laser, or any other one. Because here’s the deal.  Your treatment has destroyed fat in the targeted area. So your patient leaves your business and you both eagerly await her slimming results.  But what happens if when she goes home, rather than sleeping a healthy 7 or 8 hours a night, she’s sleeping 4 or 5.  That’s inadequate sleep and that alone will lead to fat gain.  And even worse, or at just as least as bad, it also slows her lymphatic system, so the fat released from your treatment…it isn’t being eliminated. It’s still hanging around in her body waiting to be eliminated.  If you aren’t including sleep as part of your education and post-treatment instructions, you should consider starting.  In today’s episode, you’ll learn why as we discuss the sleep-fat connection, its relationship with our fat reduction treatments and how you can educate your patients about it.  So stay tuned

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Shannon: 01:20

You’re listening to The Body Contouring Academy’s Proven Profits Podcast 

where you’ll learn simple actionable strategies from real world successful body contouring professionals to help you generate more revenue, realize the profits you want and create the life you desire. 

Hi I’m Shannon and I’m Kay and we’re your hosts of The Proven Profits Podcast

Kay: 01:54

Hi there healthcare professionals and business owners!  Kay here. Thank you for being here too. 

One thing we know for sure in science and medicine, sleep affects both weight and fat mass.   Problem is, we live in a society in which sleep is viewed as a waste of time. Right? Well…compound that with the chronic stress so many people live with that totally interferes with good sleep, and we have a real problem as a society. This problem directly affects our body contouring treatment outcomes, so we have to address them…at least as far as our patients are concerned.

So with any fat reduction treatment you offer, when it comes to your patient’s lifestyle, sleep should rank right up there with diet and exercise.  And just to be clear, we are talking about all of the non-invasive fat reduction technologies: ultrasound cavitation, cryolipolysis (fat freezing), lipo laser, sculpsure, trusculpt, etc.  From entry level machines all the way to medical grade machines.  Any and all non-invasive fat reduction treatments.

So let’s talk about what you likely include in your education.  It most likely includes instructions like alcohol avoidance, increased water consumption, moderate exercise and a healthy diet.  Sound right? But does your fat reduction education include instructions and cautions about sleep?   Likely not, since the relationship between a patient’s sleep and its effect on (1) fat-promoting brain and hormone changes and (2) lymphatic system performance is all too often overlooked by most body contouring and healthcare professionals. Until today...hopefully.

Today, we’ll discuss the two ways insufficient sleep interferes with fat reduction…first, fat gain and second, interference with lymphatic system function

We’ll dive into how and why those two things happen

And we’ll provide an example of what we include in post fat reduction instructions for sleep education and instructions 

But first…before we dive into all of that, to best illustrate exactly how this plays out in your practice, take a listen to a real life scenario from our medical spa.  An actual patient story where sleep was the culprit of poor fat reduction results and how we intervened to reverse it.

Here we go

Eleanor came in asking for treatments for fat loss.  She explained that she gained most of her excess weight within the last two years, with most of her excess fat located around her midsection.  She reported multiple attempts at diet and exercise to lose the excess fat…all without success.  Physical assessment revealed abdominal fat, both subcutaneous and visceral fat.  We recommended fat cavitation for the subcutaneous fat and discussed diet and exercise to reduce the visceral fat.  She opted to proceed with fat cavitation treatments.  

Our midway evaluation three weeks into treatments revealed a weight gain of five pounds, no inch reduction…even a slight  increase in her abdominal measurements.  And Eleanor reported that she had been compliant.  She had been coming in to our medspa 2-3 times a week for Vibration Therapy sessions.  She reported total abstention from alcohol, copious water consumption and compliance with our post-treatment diet plan. Now speaking of diet plans, It’s always best to actually give your patients a written diet plan, rather than to simply tell them to ‘eat healthy.’   You need to define eating healthy.  We have a great blog article that goes through most of the popular diet plans and in it we include the type of eating plan we recommend post treatment. And if you’re one of our students, you can find the diet plan in the BCA Community Resources section.  We’ll leave the link to the blog article in today’s show notes if you want to learn more about a good eating plan for your post-treatment instructions.  It has some great information.

So…back to Eleanor.  We ruled out diet as the reason for her failure to lose fat, so we explored other lifestyle factors to identify the problem.  She told us her employer had been laying off employees; she still had her job but was worried.  She said she “has had trouble sleeping since her divorce (2 years ago), and sleep has become a MAJOR ISSUE since she’s worrying about job security.”  She told us she has slept no more than four or five hours a night since she started with the fat cavitation treatments. Well there you have it.  

We told Eleanor that her ‘fat problem’ was likely due to insufficient sleep. We provided her with the following instructions. 

Our post fat reduction treatment education sleep instructions are all science based, proven time and again in research studies.

Establish a relaxing bedtime routine

Go to bed - in a dark, quiet, cool room at about the same time each night. 

Aim for 7-9 hours of sleep each night.  

Wake up at about the same time each morning (no matter how much or little sleep she has had), keeping the same sleeping hours every day, even on the weekends

Avoid food, drink or exercise within 3 hours of bedtime.  

Exercise each day, i.e. take a walk at lunch break.

Consider adding proven sleep enhancing supplements*:  

Disclaimer:  *Though these supplements are generally considered safe, your patients should talk with a physician (your medical director or her personal physician) before starting any supplements.  

Melatonin

Melatonin is a hormone that occurs naturally in our bodies.  It signals when its time to wake and to sleep.  It shouldn't be used long term, but short term use is okay in most people.  It can cause very vivid dreams (it affects both Shannon and I this way) and other side effects. 

Magnesium

Magnesium is an essential mineral that has been found to improve sleep quality, help you to fall asleep faster and get ready for deep sleep through relaxation.  It has also been shown to reduce anxiety and help with depression, a couple of reasons people suffer with poor sleep.  

The difference between Magnesium and Melatonin?  Magnesium works by calming the body and the nervous system whereas Melatonin regulates the sleep-wake cycle.  

Apigenin

Apigenin is a compound derived from the herb chamomile.  It has sedative type actions and promotes relaxation.  

You can recommend certain supplements based on your patient’s problems or educate your patient about the benefits of each and allow them to choose.  But make sure this plan is doctor-okayed.  Be aware that there are many other supplements that are great to assist with sleep.  We recommended these three supplements based on Eleanor’s needs.  

Just three weeks later, our six week follow up revealed great progress.  Eleanor had lost all but one of the five pounds she had gained and also lost several inches in her abdominal measurements.  She reported that she worked hard to follow the sleep instructions.  She said she felt better than ever, was less hungry and felt much more focused. 

Why were Eleanor’s sleep habits interfering with fat loss from her fat reduction treatments?

Insufficient amount of sleep and poor quality of sleep was the obvious cause of Eleanor’s failure to lose fat post-treatment and it was likely the reason she gained the weight in the first place since her divorce two years ago.  

So now let’s examine the two consequences of poor sleep as it relates to our fat reduction treatments

Fat Gain

Impedance of Lymphatic System Performance

First, Fat Gain

The cause of Eleanor’s failure to lose fat from her fat cavitation treatments?

#1: Insufficient sleep leads to fat gain

We discovered that Eleanor had experienced sleep problems for the past two years since her divorce.  During that time, she had gained twenty pounds, mostly around her abdomen.

And after starting fat cavitation treatments, Eleanor experienced additional stressors leading to even greater difficulty sleeping.  

Think about it.  It’s difficult if not impossible to see fat loss from fat cavitation when the patient is gaining fat during the treatment series.  

Here’s how insufficient sleep affects a person:

Insufficient Sleep leads to

Feeling hungrier, consuming more calories and eating larger portions

Insufficient sleep leads to higher caloric intake and weight gain. 

Listen to this.  One sleep study evaluating differences in sleep of just two hours a night found the shorter night group ate an average of 677 more calories a day compared to the normal sleeping hours group.   

Poor food choices

Sleep deprivation directly affects the brain.  It makes our brain make poor food choices.  The changes that go along with poor sleep prompt people to crave snacks and sugary, salty, fatty foods.  

Also too little sleep actually causes people to hang on to fat.  

Researchers have found that when dieters cut back on sleep over a 14-day period, the amount of weight they lost dropped by 55%, even though the calories and everything else stayed the same.  This has been termed being made to be metabolically groggy. This is working directly against our fat reduction treatments.  

It also causes Weight gain, specifically abdominal fat (subcutaneous and visceral)

Researchers found that people suffering from insufficient sleep experience a 

9%  - 11% increase in abdominal fat, both subcutaneous and visceral.   

See the importance of including sleep as a focus?  As important as diet and exercise?  When you include sleep in your fat cavitation education, you help your patient avoid fat gain and ensure optimum fat loss results.

Okay, as if this is not bad news enough, remember there’s a second way Insufficient sleep can affect fat reduction results and that is through its detrimental impact on your patient’s lymphatic function.  

Before we dive into that, Shannon has a brief message for us.

[music]

Shannon: 16:33

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Visit bodycontouringacademy.com, click on 'Certification Courses' from the menu

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Kay: 17:25

Okay, #2: Insufficient sleep impedes the performance of the lymphatic system.

Before understanding why lymphatic impairment from lack of sleep is so detrimental to fat loss results, let’s review the integral role the lymphatic system plays with fat reduction treatments  

 

Here’s an unfortunate fact.  Your patients will likely not see inch loss after undergoing non-invasive fat reduction treatments if she has a poorly functioning lymphatic system.  

Why is this?

The lymphatic system’s primary role in the body is to eliminate waste, toxins and excess fluids.  There is no other mechanism by which the body can perform these functions.

Our fat reduction treatments (like fat cavitation) destroy and release fat cells and other debris into your patient’s body.  

This results in an additional workload on your patient’s lymphatic system because on top of normal function and demands, the lymphatic system must eliminate the debris (fat cells, fluids, toxins) left behind from the treatment.

 

Studies show that lymphatic function slows by 22% with insufficient sleep.  That’s a significant reduction in functioning that packs a powerful punch on your patient’s fat reduction results.

We hope that by now you see how proper sleep is paramount to fat loss results. 

So…What does your fat cavitation education include?

We hope you’ve gained helpful body contouring information in our article and you have a good idea how you’re going to educate your fat reduction patients about sleep.

If you apply today’s Information, you will get better results for your patients which will grow your business.   

So…

Learn more from us at The Body Contouring Academy!

Are you new to our podcast?  We are Shannon and Kay, the faculty at the Body Contouring Academy, have been medspa owners/operators since 2006.   

We’ve been there and done that.  Our current medspa business has been producing happy patients and generating seven-figures consistently since 2015.  

And via the Body Contouring Academy, we not only help others with our podcast, we share our knowledge and our expert protocols, techniques, tools, and forms in convenient, online body contouring certification courses.

We’ll leave a link in our show notes to our current courses if you want to look them over.

And we’ll let you know about our most popular fat reduction course

The Body Contouring 6in1 Masterclass 

In this course, you’ll learn four technologies: 

Fat Cavitation

Lipo Laser

Radiofrequency (RF) Skin Tightening

Vacuum/LED

And you’ll learn how to treat

Unwanted Fat

Loose skin

Cellulite

Stretch Marks

And you can get all the course details in the link we’ll leave in today’s show notes.  

You know…it takes more than ‘the basics’ to deliver top-tier fat reduction services. It takes knowing what the body contouring experts know and what they do. 

In today’s episode, we provided you with a glimpse inside the world of true body contouring expertise.   

To develop your own body contouring expertise, you need to seek education that gives you  in-depth education, that truly explores the nuances of the craft and that keeps you ahead of the basic industry trends.  

We hope you enjoyed learning with us today.  We love sharing our knowledge and helping others. 

Until next time, Beautiful Wishes

[music]

Shannon: 21:54

If you enjoyed our podcast, we’d really appreciate it if you take a few minutes to leave us a review. 

And, if you’d like to learn more about our courses and resources, you can get ALL the scoop by visiting our website,  bodycontouringacademy.com, that’s bodycontouringacademy.com.  

Thank you so much for listening.  As always, have a great rest of your day!  And until next time, Beautiful wishes!