How To Lose Weight While You Sleep

most of us simply take sleep for granted. We assume we need our "rest" without ever thinking much about it. But the most important function of sleep is to allow our bodies to regenerate themselves. If we engage in physical exercise or muscle-taxing work during the day, our muscles, ligaments, skin, cartilege and other working parts of our body are worn down in the process. The body needs a time of rest to rebuild these damaged parts. That is what happens during sleep.

In other words, the body engages in a restorative process during sleep. And this restorative process uses energy to rebuild both lean muscle mass and other kinds of body tissue. That is worth repeating -- the rebuilding processes that take place during sleep use energy. And if the restorative processes are running smoothly and efficiently, the required energy comes from the places in our body where energy is stored -- from our fat cells.

So while we sleep the body repairs and rebuilds organ tissue, ligaments, tendons and lean muscle by burning the calories we take in as food during the day. And if that is not enough, it will burn excess fat.

Several things about this process are worth noting. They have an important bearing on how efficiently it works.

Collagen is very important to the body repair process

Collagen is the most common protein found in our bodies. It is the main component of our skin, nails, bones, cartilage, and connective tissue and is found in all of the body organs. Cartilage is the cushion and shock absorber between joints, and the reason we stay flexible and mobile. But cartilage and other soft body tissues are the very things that break down during our normal daily activities. So healthy cartilage and other soft tissue is constantly being regenerated by the body naturally and this process which depends on a steady source of collagen contributes to keeping us youthful and flexible.

Unfortunately, as we age our bodies lose the ability to produce collagen at sufficient levels needed to support the restorative processes that our bodies are designed to perform. This can be a major contributor leading to a premature aged appearance and can seriously affect our flexibility and mobility.

Therefore it stands to reason that a collagen supplement combined with other natural ingredients can have a dramatic impact on the deep restorative processes that take place during sleep. This in turn can allow the body to experience more energy, build more lean muscle, and burn more fat.

Amino acids enhance the regeneration process

The rebuilding process is also dependent on the production of a unique amino acid combination found in collagen. As part of the restoration process, these collagen based special amino acids help maintain lean muscle mass and allow the body to more readily consume fat for energy during the deep restorative sleep cycles. This natural metabolic function directly contributes to weight loss and our ability to maintain our "proper weight".

But again, as we age, our body's production of collagen and its unique amino acids is reduced. The natural ingredient L-Carnitine, when properly combined with collagen in a natural supplement, can significantly enhance the body's natural function of converting excess fat into readily available energy. During deep sleep, this special amino acid conbination works like a natural "turbo charger" to help your body repair, preserve and build lean muscle while burning stored excess fat to supply the needed energy.

Not eating before sleeping is important

Since the body uses deep sleep for the restoration process, it is important when using a collagen supplement not to eat approximately three hours before going asleep. This is because we don't want nutrient competitiion between undigested food and the collagen supplement's special nutrient formula. If the body has to concern itself with digestion it will not absorb the collagen formula properly. Therefore your body will not be performing its natural restorative process while you sleep, but rather will be concerned with undigested foods and will actually be storing fat from the continuing digestive process rather than burning fat as the energy for the deep sleep restorative process.

This tends to put us into a "diet circle of frustration". The less time your body spends in deep restful sleep (without competing digestion), the less time it has to restore its natural health, and the less fat that is burned in support of this natural rebuilding process.

now we understand how deep restful sleep and weight loss often go hand in hand with our overall health.

Reducing or eliminating the intake of food three hours before bedtime allows the body to use its natural fat reserves for metabolic fuel during the deep restorative sleep cycle.

Collagen weight loss products build on this process

natural collagen supplements enable the natural process to help people lose weight and be more naturally healthy. For instance, the product called Lose and Snooze consists of a blend of Collagen, L-Carnitine and Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe Vera). The Collagen contributes to a more youthful appearance, greater flexibility, and all round mobility and strength.

The collagen supplement also enhances the deep sleep necessary to enable your body's natural metabolic functions to occur, like when we were children. The second ingredient, L-Carnitine promotes the burning of fat in support of the natural rebuilding, restorative process that occurs during deep sleep. And Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe Vera) contains numerous nutrients and amino acids that help create a healthy environment in support of your body's ability to create its own collagen.

Many users of collagen supplements like Lose and Snooze have reported good results. But researchers stress that going to bed on an empty stomach is an integral part of the therapy. Many users report that using a collagen formula in combination with an empty stomach before bedtime, has been beneficial to their general health and has helped them naturally lose weight.

And because collagen supplements only help lose excess fat (while rebuilding muscle), they can be used by anybody -- not just people wanting to lose weight. They have also been beneficial to folks who want to enjoy better sleep, build lean muscle, improve their appearance and reshape their body while maintaining their proper healthy weight.

Rick Hendershot publishes Linknet News | FDA Approved Prescription Drugs - Get weight loss prescriptions | Collagen Weight Loss - Lose weight while you sleep.

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Mindfulness and Humor: Celebrating Belly Laugh Day

My friend Elaine Helle in Oregon thought it would be fun to give the whole world something to laugh about.

As a laughter yoga teacher--her personal tagline is "Laugh for the health of it!"--she knows the power of a good belly laugh. And so, she started Belly Laugh Day, which will be celebrated around the world on January 24th at 1:24 pm local time.

On this day, people everywhere will pause in the middle of a busy day to smile, throw their hands up into the air and laugh out loud.

This isn't just one of those holidays that somebody made up and nobody honors. This one actually has coordinated silliness scheduled in places all over the globe. People will gather--or stop where they are at work or school or home--and laugh hard and long at the appointed time. Laughers will send in stories, photos and videos of their Belly Laugh experience to share with others on Elaine's website.

I've always said that if you're not laughing, you're not learning. Can you get through an entire day without laughing? You shouldn't. You see, there's power--and wisdom--in lightening up. If hours go by without a guffaw or at least a giggle, you're not allowing yourself to see the silliness all around you.

Oh, I know there are days when it doesn't seem possible to laugh. After all, terrible things do happen. But on 99 percent of your days, you've got a dozen reasons to laugh.

And the other 1 percent? Trust me on this: those are the days during which you are MOST in need of laughter!

I've laughed at the bedside of someone who is dying. I've howled while holding hands with someone who has tried (unsuccessfully) to kill himself. I've giggled even when I felt I couldn't take another day of life in this world.

Thank goodness.

You see, that's the tipping point. When you can laugh while smack in the middle of a crappy day-- or a real tragedy--you know you're going to be okay. You've tapped into the secret of the Belly Laugh.

Elaine knows the secret, and she's not whispering it. Instead, she's shouting it from the virtual rooftops, engaging gigglers from the north Pole to Antarctica.

Let Belly Laugh Day on January 24th remind you of the value of seeing the silliness all around you. Open your eyes and find something to smile about every HOUR.

What, you can't spare five seconds every waking hour? Then you SERIOUSLY need to lighten up-- or, as I like to say, get En*Lightened.

Yes, laugh out loud on Belly Laugh Day, but don't stop there. Make it your personal mission to have a laugh every hour.

You'll be happier, healthier, and a whole lot more fun to be around.

Maya Talisman Frost has taught thousands of people how to pay attention. Through her company, Real-World mindfulness training, she offers playful, eyes-wide-open alternatives to meditation. To read her free tips and tricks for practical awareness, visit http://www.Real-WorldMindfulness.com

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What Exactly Is MP4?

You know most of the time you find yourself downloading all kinds of stuff, including mp4s, mp3s and the like, but what about the technical end of it. What is MP4?

Mp4s or rather the term mpeg-4 was developed by ISO (International Organization for Standardization). It is a format specific for multimedia, the most common uses are for digital audio and video, and it is a certain type of container that holds all this information. It can contain other data as well such as subtitles and still images. You should also note that mpeg-4 is identical to QuickTime MOV format. In fact any kind of data can be inserted into MP4.

MP4 is getting more and more popular. In fact, it is now very popular to people who use the latest iPod players and PSP owners. This type of file compression is now providing a way to store dvd quality movies at a very small size. This type of file compression is known as the MPEG4 format.

Because most users may get confused at the initial concept of what MP4 is, it is what is in the MP4 that is even more confusing since the extension has been used primarily for music tunes and not movies. Therefore, what is stored in an MP4 is more than you can imagine for the most part. In addition, those other extensions have been used for MP4s, (which is audio from an iTunes store), to m4a (which includes such things as chapter markers, images, and hyperlinks). In addition, of course m4b (which has the ability to work with IPODs, where m4a files cannot. So most of the time when you find a file with the extension of mp4 or m4v, then they have both the audio and video aspects.

Let us not forget of course that they can contain codecs as well. Therefore, as you can see there is much to learn about what MP4 is, so let's summarize;

MP4 Can include and contain audio, video and also still images (like pictures), and all kinds of other data, making it a diverse file to use.

MP4 can contain other types of competing technology e.g. ogg, vob, ratdvd, divx media format, Matroska (mkv) and others to name a few.

In addition, how about some of the compatible hardware or software that mp4s can work with? Such as in software: Amarok, Banshee music player, 3ivx, foobar2000, GOM player, iTunes, media player classic, QuickTime player, Realplayer, VLC media player, and so forth, as for hardware: Kiss 1600, apple iPod, PSP (playstation portable), Playstation 3, xbox 360, Nokia.

Therefore, to answer the question what MP4 is, well, it is technology at its best!

Indeed, the MP4 technology can now make entertainment much more convenient than ever before. So, next time you think of downloading your favorite movies to your computer to transfer to your portable multimedia device, try thinking of MP4. just make sure that your multimedia devices are capable of reading the MP4 format.

Sandra Stammberger owns and operates http://www.mp4pros.com MP4

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