Does a lack of sleep actually cause belly fat?

1

No.

'Belly fat', high cortisol, and a bad sleep pattern, are all caused BY having a chaotic, stressful, unrelaxed western' lifestyle. So it is easy to demonstrate a link between them, and claim that one causes the other.

In reality, low waist mobility softens your belly muscles. This reduces pressure in your abdomen. Fat accumulates where pressure is low. That's all there is to it.

Training your core will reduce belly fat. This happens regardless of your sleep pattern and your cortisol level.

Yes it does. This would be due to high cortisol and low human growth hormone.

"Researchers at Yale University, for example, found slender women who had high cortisol also had more abdominal fat. More results published in the journal of Psychosomatic Medicine in 2000 established a link between cortisol and increased storage of abdominal fat."

"Sleep enough and eat at the right times. You must sleep at least 7.5 to 9 hours per night. Sleep deprivation makes us wake up with higher amounts of the stress hormone cortisol, which fuels appetite and increases our cravings, particularly for sugary and carb-laden treats, even when we have eaten enough. Not only does poor sleep pack on pounds, good sleep actually helps you to lose weight by influencing the hormones that control your appetite and increase your metabolism. "

Reset Your Hormones to Beat Belly Fat:

http://www.doctoroz.com/article/reset-your-hormone...

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"Human growth hormone is one of the most anabolic hormones known to a man. It’s one of the most used steroids among athletes, because of its vast range of benefits on muscle growth and fat burn.

Many people don’t understand that growth hormone levels can easily be increased naturally, without the use of injections, doctors, side-effects, or any other negative effects that come when using steroids.

That’s why today I have compiled you a list of 20 natural ways to increase growth hormone levels to build muscle and shed fat like never before!"

"14. Sleep more

Most of your growth hormone will be secreted during the REM stages of your sleep, and a dozen of studies state that the longer you sleep, the more growth hormone you will produce.

You can improve your sleep quality by supplementing with melatonin or doing things that naturally increase melatonin production, like sleeping in a completely dark room as mentioned above."

20 Ways to Increase Growth Hormone Levels Naturally:

http://www.anabolicmen.com/increase-growth-hormone...