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A common mistake made by people trying to improve their health and fitness is that by placing virtually all of their focus on their training and nutrition plans they actually miss the third and often most crucial element – sleep. In a world that often packs as many hours of activities and tasks into a day as possible, it’s no wonder that sleep is one of the first things people sacrifice. But did you know this sacrifice alone could be the one thing stopping you from reaching your goals? A lack of deep quality sleep plays havoc with our hormones, which can not only decrease our motivation and energy levels but can also increase our chances of gaining weight and make us age faster. If you’re trying to improve your health and fitness, hitting the sack is just as important as hitting the gym.
Our sleep cycles are regulated by our circadian rhythm, which is regulated by light and darkness. When it is light out, our bodies think we should be awake. When it is dark, our bodies want to go to sleep. There are two hormones directly involved in our sleep cycles, the same hormones that play a role in how our weight is gained and distributed – melatonin and cortisol.
Melatonin is our sleep hormone. Made in the brain by the pineal gland, then sent into the bloodstream during darkness, melatonin encourages our peaceful slumber. Melatonin levels hit their peak between 2am – 4am and then gradually ebb so that we can wake up and greet the day.
Cortisol works inversely with melatonin (when cortisol is high, melatonin is low and vice versa). Made in your adrenal glands (above your kidneys), your cortisol levels will be lowest at night when melatonin is doing its job, but will begin to rise early in the morning in order to help get you going when you wake up. Cortisol is also the hormone your body secretes when you get stressed. High stress levels mean high cortisol levels, and high cortisol levels mean (a) bad sleep (b) stored body fat in your belly.
Without a doubt, one of the most important things you can do for your body is sleep, especially if you are pursuing a health and fitness programme – let me elaborate by outlining some of the key benefits:
- It stops us over eating. Sufficient sleep helps your body to balance hunger hormones. Ghrelin is a hormone that signals your body to eat more. When you’re sleep deprived your body makes more of this hormone. Leptin is the hormone that tells your body it’s had enough food. Your body makes less leptin when you’re tired. Put the two together, and it’s no wonder sleep deprivation leads to overeating and weight gain.
- It prevents excess weight gain. Without adequate sleep our ability to properly use insulin (the fat storage hormone) becomes completely disrupted. When we become more insulin resistant, fats circulate in our blood and pump out more insulin. Excess insulin is eventually stored as fat. A quality sleeping pattern will help keep insulin levels regular and prevent fat storage. You also get stressed when you are tired and stress has a great ability to cause you to store fat (especially around your belly). When you experience stress, your body produces cortisol. Cortisol makes you more likely to store calories as fat no matter how well you are eating. Therefore, a poor sleep routine can result in your body treating a healthy diet like an unhealthy one.
- It keeps your brain focused<br />.Your brain functions differently without sleep. Sleep deprivation is a little like being drunk. When you are deprived of sleep you lack the mental clarity to make sound complex decisions, especially with regards to the foods you eat. This usually results in you making poor meal choices and consuming snacks you wouldn’t normally eat. Sufficient sleep also promotes mental and emotional health. These are very important factors when trying to improve food and exercise habits. A positive outlook and state of mind leads to better choices all day long, including exercise and healthy eating.
- You get a greater benefit from your workouts. Let’s be honest – sometimes just getting to the gym is an effort, but when you’re tired it’s even harder. What’s worse is the lack of effort you find yourself putting in once you’re there. If you are tired you are not going to be able to give your session 100%. Less than 100% effort means less than 100% reward. Don’t jeopardise your hard work because of a poor sleep pattern.</p
- It helps you recover. For years there has been research completed on the effects of over-training and how often we should exercise each week before it’s considered too much. But, there should also be a focus on under-recovering. Lack of sleep makes it harder for your body to recover from exercise by slowing down the production of growth hormone – your natural source of anti-aging and fat burning that also facilitates recovery. Sleep is when the body powers down so that it can restore, repair, and replenish.
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