Press Releases
New Release - January 3, 2007
When You Snooze, You Lose…Weight!
Herbal Formulas From Pharm East Promote Restful Sleep and Aid Weight Loss
Kea'au, Hawaii – Losing weight is consistently one of Americans' top New Year's resolutions. Every January, we shore up our willpower, eat sensible portions and cut out our favorite foods. Yet despite our best efforts, an astounding 90 percent of diets fail.1 Are we missing something? The answer is yes – and the thing we're missing is sleep. According to recent research outlined in the groundbreaking new book, Sleep Away the Pounds, by bestselling author and nutritionist Cherie Calbom, the less we sleep, the more likely we are to be overweight. That means getting enough sleep is key to successful weight loss. The only problem is that a significant percentage of the population can't sleep more even if they want to. For those 70 million adults suffering from insomnia, Calbom has great news. She has collaborated with Pharm East founder Dr. Rulin Xiu to bring to market an all-natural, two-part herbal system for restful sleep and successful weight loss: Sleep the Pounds Away AM™ and Sleep the Pounds Away PM™.
The correlation between a lack of sleep and an excess of pounds is well documented. As a nation, we've lost over an hour of nightly sleep since the mid 1960's, averaging only 6.9 hours during the week, and 7.5 hours on the weekend.2 Meanwhile, we've gained an average of 25 pounds since 1960.3 Researchers think there's a connection. In her book, Calbom cites research from Columbia University , which studied the sleep habits of 3,682 people. The researchers found that those who got by on less than four hours of sleep a night were 73 percent more likely to be obese than those who slept seven to nine hours nightly.4 Those catching a modest six hours of sleep a night were 23 percent more likely to be obese. The message is clear: when you snooze, you lose…weight.
Why does losing sleep cause weight gain? Hormones. When we don't get enough sleep, our appetite-regulating hormones get out of whack. A research team at the University of Chicago , for example, reported that under experimental conditions, sleep-deprived men experienced a dip in leptin – the appetite-suppressing hormone – equivalent to that seen in people underfed by 1,000 calories for three days.5 Likewise, levels of ghrelin – the appetite-stimulating hormone – are higher in people who don't get enough sleep. The body is basically saying “eat more” to the brain, when in fact it needs to sleep more.
Calbom will be appearing on the Today show on Jan. 15, 2007, to discuss her new book Sleep Away the Pounds. In it, she includes a simple, four-part strategy for effective weight loss: 1. a healthy diet, 2. stress reduction, 3. exercise and 4.a sound sleep regimen. To help with that last step, she endorses Dr. Xiu's Sleep the Pounds Away™ AM and PM duo of herbal formulas.
A UC Berkeley-educated scientist and native of China, Dr. Xiu used the principles of traditional Chinese medicine to formulate the Sleep the Pounds Away™ AM and PM products. Unlike pharmaceutical sleep drugs – and even many natural sleep products – which only address symptom relief, Dr. Xiu's products go deeper. “Because my formulas deal with health problems from the root cause, they have lasting benefits,” she says.
Dr. Xiu formulated Sleep the Pounds Away PM™ to help sleep come more easily, and to promote a longer, deeper, more restful sleep. “By optimizing your sleep, you can maximize your weight loss,” she says. The formula includes sedative herbs, such as jujube, valerian and mother of pearl powder, to make falling asleep quicker and easier. However, Sleep the Pounds Away PM™ also gets to the root of sleep problems by featuring herbs that help balance central nervous system function and restore natural sleep cycles.
The AM formula, on the other hand, is aimed at revving up metabolism and keeping the munchies at bay. The star of the product is the ancient vegetable portaluca, a patent-pending ingredient with appetite suppressant qualities. Sleep the Pounds Away AM™ also includes herbs that enhance metabolism and promote the circulation of energy – such as green tea, lotus leaf and Siberian ginseng (eleuthero) – plus seaweed and konjac to prevent fat absorption from the gut. What it does not contain is just as important; the product is free of ephedrine, chemicals, and known side effects.
Unlike run-of-the-mill herbal formulas, Sleep the Pounds Away AM™ is supported by original human clinical research. Dr. Xiu worked with the Marshall-Blum Clinical Study Group in Bangor, Maine (associated with the University of Maine and Case Western University) to develop a double-blind, placebo-controlled human clinical trial to study the effects of her formula on weight loss. Subjects in both the product and placebo groups followed a low refined carbohydrate diet and complied with a light exercise program. But the folks who took Sleep the Pounds Away AM™ lost an average of 7.45 pounds after just six weeks, compared with only 3.68 in the placebo group – nearly twice the amount.6
Lose twice the weight by taking an herbal pill? Burn more calories by sleeping more? It sounds too good to be true. But as Calbom explains, “For many people, the best diet and exercise program in the world won't work unless they develop a good sleep plan. And I know of no better products to help you sleep at night and eat less during the day than Dr. Xiu's Sleep the Pounds Away formulas.”
Sleep the Pounds Away PM™ and Sleep the Pounds Away AM™, available in 60-capsule bottles, retail for $34.95 and can be purchased at www.sleepthepoundsaway.com, 1-888-WOW-TRIM. The company is also planning on expanding its distribution to retail channels in the coming year.
1 Weight Control and Diet. Dec. 2001. www.well-connected.com.
2 National Sleep Foundation: www.sleepfoundation.org.
3 Mean Body Weight, Height, and Body Mass Index, United States 1960-2002. Advance Data No. 347. October 2004. (PHS 2005-1250). www.cdc.gov
4 Calbom, Cherie with John Calbom. Sleep Away the Pounds . ( New York : Warner Wellness, 2007).
5 Spiegel K, et al. Impact of sleep duration on the 24-hour leptin profile: relationships with sympatho-vagal balance, cortisol and TSH. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2004; 89(11):5762-5771.
6 Blum, J. Herbal support for healthy weight management: A prospective, randomized, double-blinded clinical trial to test the efficacy and short-term safety of Tea Light ™ , a supplement formulated to promote weight loss. March 17, 2003 . Unpublished study.
