Bad news for those of you living in Seattle, England, or any other place where a rainy forecast is the norm: Rainy weather can make it harder for you to shed weight.

Researchers in Scotland say rain can make you fat because this type of weather causes your levels of vitamin D to dip, which affects a hormone associated with hunger. Makes sense -- however, I think it definitely has something to do with cravings, as in, you're more likely to crave comfort foods when the weather has you down. Plus, when you're cooped up inside, what else is there to do besides snuggle up to a good movie with a big bowl of popcorn and mug of hot cocoa?

Either way, the point is this: Bad weather is no excuse to give up your healthy habits. After all, the gym is open in all seasons. When a craving hits, head for the treadmill or fill up on something healthy.

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Slipping off to the Land of Nod does more than just rest the weary brain and your tired toes. In this article from The Dallas Morning News, Dr. Nilesh Davé, medical director of the Sleep and Breathing Disorders Center at UT Southwestern Medical Center, offers five reasons why we should make every effort to get the best sleep possible every night.

1. Fitness and Sleep. Stanford Sleep Disorder Clinic and Research Laboratory found in a 2008 study that swimmers who obtained additional hours of sleep (beyond their normal amount) actually became better athletes. Swim time, reaction time, turn time and kick strokes all improved. Studies in other sports support the same findings. However, studies published in Runner's World link on-going sleep deprivation to a decrease in athletic performance.
2. Growth and Sleep. Sleep is prime time for certain essential hormones to release into the body, including those necessary for growth. Cortisol is one hormone that peaks around 4 a.m., but if we do not get enough sleep our body produces too much cortisol. This leads to higher blood pressure, an increase in blood sugar, as well as an increase in appetite. When we are sleep deprived, leptin -- a hormone that tells the brain when we are full -- does not sufficiently produce; and therefore, our body thinks it is still hungry when in actuality it has had plenty of food.
   
3. Memory and Sleep. Remember pulling all-nighters in college cramming for an exam? You would ace the exam but not remember anything the next day. That is because sleep is essential for long-term memory recall.
   
4. Driving and Sleep. A 2006 study by the National Sleep Foundation and Virginia Tech Transportation Institute revealed the following alarming statistic: 80 percent of crashes and 65 percent of near-crashes involved some sort of "driver inattention." According to the study, most drivers claimed lack of sleep as the culprit. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, 200,000 sleep-related car accidents occur each year with as many as 1,500 fatal injuries.
   
5. Mood and Sleep. It is no secret that well-rested people are happier people. We all feel crabby when we do not get enough sleep. Rest can work wonders on our mood, and therefore all aspects of our lives.
   

Check in tomorrow to learn what your sleeping position says about your personality.

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It's fairly well known that exercise can reduce hunger, which is one of the reasons that it's a mainstay of any weight loss program (in addition to building fitness and burning calories, of course). But a recent study questions that long held belief.

When researchers compared postmenopausal women in an exercise study, those who were lean did experience a drop in hunger when they exercised. But those who were obese did not. Researchers found that obese women had a higher level of a hormone called leptin in their blood, and leptin plays a role in hunger. In obese women, leptin levels did drop during moderate exercise, but not during high intensity workouts.

This is a small study, but the findings are interesting. Even if exercise doesn't reduce hunger in the obese, the many benefits of exercise make it essential to good health. But if you're obese and trying to lose weight, it might be helpful to know this information and to prepare for it as part of your diet plan.

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If fitting into a smaller dress size or a new pair or pants is high on your list of goals, there's actually a very easy and extremely relaxing step you can take to help make that happen.

It does not require a pair of $150 running shoes, a special membership, or even a minute more of your effort. This weight loss aid is something that's available to many of us, yet fewer and fewer of us choose to take advantage of it. If you haven't guessed it by now, I'm talking about sleep. Of the three major ways to maintain a healthy lifestyle (diet and exercise being the others), sleep is the one we seem to skimp out the most -- despite the fact that it is free and requires very little effort. With specific regard to weight management, a growing body of evidence shows that getting an ample amount of shut-eye encourages your body to produce more leptin (a hormone that makes you feel full) and less ghrelin (the hormone that makes you feel hungry).

So, instead of staying up late and just spinning your wheels -- whether it's online or in front of the tube -- close down early for the evening. Get 7 or 8 hours of sleep a night on a regular basis, in addition to exercising and following a sensible diet, and you'll be fitting in that dress or those new pants before you know it.

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Can you lose weight singing in the shower? I belt it out loud in the car, sing in a garage band and used to sing in a Chicago doo wop group called the Gonzo Vocal Barbarians. Our group's most famous moment arrived when we harmonized a shooby-doo-wop version of the National Anthem to open a Chicago Bulls game -- half the crowd cheered our creativity, half booed in protection of their sacred anthem. We made the paper. How about opera stars -- are they in better shape thanks to aria training?

One study found a group of opera singers 28 to 65 years old had better heart and lung function than nonsingers under 40. Another smaller study of opera singers revealed the respiratory system is highly responsive to even a short period of vocal calisthenics. But there may be a negative to singing. One study found singers' prolonged use of the lungs triggered an increase in the hormone leptin, which ultimately made the brain resistant to the hormone. Leptin resistance may result in weight gain.

Nothing on shower singing here. Beyond lifting the mic at the bar, I guess karaoke stars need to keep up their fitness workouts at the gym.

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Do you seem to put on a few pounds every holiday season? Not surprisingly, this happens to many people during the winter doldrums. Some of it can be attributed to the less-than-healthy holiday options served at most parties, but the crux of the problem is based less on candy and more on evolution and science.

Our very distant ancestors (I'm talking Neanderthal distant) were oftentimes faced with a dearth of food options during the winter season. In response, the human body slowed down the metabolism, thus helping to ensure survival until the warmer and more plentiful months returned. For some reason, we have evolved well past being impressed by fire, but for some reason this winter survival mode persists. But how does it actually happen?

Well, science may have at least found somewhat of an answer to that question. According to a recent study from the National Institute of Mental Health, some people may not process leptin (a hormone that regulates cravings and hunger) as efficiently during the winter. Researchers aren't exactly sure why this occurs, but they do agree that a reduction in leptin production can lead to increased appetite and, in turn, weight gain.

One way to increase leptin production is to make sure that you are getting enough sleep, as it is during times of rest that this hormone is created. Also, leptin deficiency has been linked to low zinc intake. Since zinc has also been shown to reduce the severity of a cold if taken at the earliest stages, you may want to have some of this mineral stocked up already.

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Research shows that inflammation in the body, specifically chronic systemic inflammation, can contribute to all kinds of problems including heart disease, depression, and yes -- weight.

The scary part about inflammation is that it's sneaky, and you may be doing things that cause it and not even realize. Bad health habits like living a stressful life, smoking, not getting enough sleep, eating an imbalanced diet, and even obesity can all make inflammation worse.

As far as how and why inflammation makes losing weight so difficult could be any number of factors, one of which is that it's known to have a negative influence on the body's ability to respond to the hormone leptin. Click here for more detailed information, and for info on following an anti-inflammatory diet.

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The first few paragraphs of this recent article in The New York Times are interesting, and after that it gets really scary. The interesting part has to do with how science is discovering that seemingly minuscule environmental and physical issues can have permanent affects on infants, some good and some bad. Like did you know that the temperature of your home can affect how many sweat glands your baby develops? And appetite and metabolism are affected in similar ways by how and what the baby is exposed to in terms of hormones and nutrients?

So here's the scary part: Having discovered that things can be changed and manipulated like this, scientists are working on creating an "anti-obesity baby formula." The idea is that a baby's eating habits, metabolism, and propensity to gain weight could be modified in the developmental stages, thereby creating an adult who could essentially eat whatever they wanted and not end up overweight.

Wow, seriously? This is taking things too far people -- get a grip.

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Many studies have been done on the effects of soy on dieting, and one thing seems to keep showing up consistently: more soy means more weight loss. But why? That was the question driving a recent study at the University of Illinois. The thought getting started was that soy had a positive affect on appetite hormones that caused weight loss due to eating less, but what they actually found was that soy seems to interact with receptors in the brain -- causing weight loss from metabolism changes instead.

This study adds some clarity to this issue, but not much. Scientists are still studying the exact principles of how and why soy works the way it does. So the waiting game continues...

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It's a generalization in our society that people who suffer from obesity just lack willpower or control, and that if they would "just eat less," then they would be as thin as their non-obese counterparts. Though that may be true on a basic level, recent studies have been pointing to the idea that obesity is more than a lack of willpower and is, indeed, a physical disease. A new study done on mice seems to solidify that theory.

When genetically identical mice were fed a high fat diet for 20 weeks, about 65% of them became obese. When compared to the mice who did not gain weight, as well as mice who were fed a normal diet, the obese mice were found to be resistant to leptin. Leptin is a hormone that is produced by fat cells and "tells" the brain how much fat there is in the body. In a person who is not leptin-resistant, the hormone works to control appetite and to use stored energy appropriately. But in the mice who were obese, leptin failed to produce similar responses. This study seems to prove that there is a biological difference between the mice who became obese and the mice that stayed thin.

The great news is that when the obese mice were put on a low-fat diet, they lost weight. Their response to leptin regulated and their resistance to the hormone did not appear to be permanent. Though the study can not be directly applied to humans just yet, researchers believe that people with obesity who are leptin-resistant may be able to reverse the condition through weight loss.

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We hear it all the time -- if you want to lose weight eat more protein. Have you ever wondered why? What is it about protein that helps us lose weight? Isn't a calorie just a calorie?

A calorie is just a calorie, it turns out, but eating protein helps you stay full longer. Experts believe that it makes the body more sensitive to leptin, the hormone that makes you feel hungry. Not only that, protein triggers the brain to make norepinephrine and dopamine, which give you energy and make you feel more alert. After eating a high-carb meal, on the other hand, the brain produces the calming chemical serotonin, which can make you feel tired and hungry for an energy fix.

Does that mean you shouldn't eat carbs? Not at all. Carbs are important fuel for your body, as are fats and protein. But what researchers found was that when they bumped a group of dieters' daily caloric intake of protein from the average 15% up to 30%, the dieters lost weight. They reported feeling more satisfied after meals and with less food. They didn't lose weight because they ate protein, they lost weight because they ate less calories. The protein helped them feel full for longer periods of time.

So enjoy your carbs and even a few healthy fats, but if you're trying to lose weight, try front-loading your meals with a little extra (5-10%) protein to keep hunger at bay. When choosing proteins, look for lean meats, fish, and beans as your primary sources. Now you know the secret power of protein!

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When I became a mother, I quit sleeping. First it was pregnancy, then it was nightly feedings, colds, flu, toddler separation anxiety, pretty soon it just became permanent. It's like there's this switch in my brain that never lets me shut down and rest -- even when I've tucked everyone in and completed my to-do list. Now I lay down each night and try my different tricks -- deep breathing, relaxing each muscle, and counting backwards from 100. I get there eventually, but eight hours of sound, unbroken sleep? That just doesn't exist for me anymore.

I can see its effects in the morning. I have circles under my eyes that concealer won't cover and my face looks puffy. The mid-afternoon slump hits me hard and I know my memory and mood are often affected. According to this interesting article, though, what's happening inside my body may be even more serious. Losing just an hour or two of sleep each night puts people at risk for heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. In fact, in one study, participants were allowed only four hours sleep for two nights in a row. In just that short period of time, their bodies showed a marked increase in ghrelin -- a hormone that causes hunger -- and a significant decrease in leptin, which tells the body it's full. That fact struck home with me, because on nights that I really miss out on sleep, I can feel those changes. I'm constantly reaching for carbs to fill me up and boost my energy.

So I'm going to start making sleep a priority and get it under control. I'm setting a new, earlier bedtime for myself and allowing only relaxing activities an hour before. I'm cutting out caffeine and planning to exercise every morning to boost my energy instead. It's going to mean giving up a lot of my "me" time and probably most of my favorite TV shows, but I think the payoff will be worth it.

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Ahhhh ... sleep. One of my favorite pastimes. No, I'm not just lazy -- I've embraced the restorative power of sleep, which I've heard can have a positive effect on everything from the shininess of your hair to the smoothness of your skin to your risk of getting sick and so on. So I'm no surprised to read this, which makes the bold claim that sleep can help you lose weight. Okay, let's clarify. It won't help you burn more calories, but it helps in other ways, such as by balancing your hormones.

Here's something I didn't know. Leptin and ghrelin, two hormones in our bodies with help regulate our appetite, can be influenced by how much or how little we sleep. So when we aren't well-rested, these hormones will influence our appetite, making us feel hungry when we're not. Wow - I have totally noticed that after a late night and now I know why!

Being overweight can also affect our sleep negatively by increasing our chances of developing sleep apnea.

I'm going to bed early tonight. What about you?

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