Are you getting enough sleep???

Are you getting enough sleep?

Recent studies have shown that sleep is one of the three important factors for physical well-being, behind good nutrition and exercise.(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4824633/). Lack of sleep can lead to poor food choices and greater intake of fatty foods and carbohydrates. This may be due to your body feeling sluggish and slow from fewer sleep hours. Sleep plays an important role in regulating metabolism and two key hunger hormones. The two hormones are ghrelin and leptin. Gherlin is the hormone that tells you when to eat, sleep deprivation can lead to an increase in this hormone. Leptin is the hormone to tell you when to stop eating and sleep deprivation leads to decrease in this hormone. So too little leptin and too much gherlin can lead to eating even when you are not hungry. (wwws.fitnessrepublic.com/life/lack-of-sleep-weight-loss.html). Lack of sleep also can lead to a decrease in insulin sensitivity which can lead to insulin resistance and increased fat storage. Proper amounts of sleep can help keep your metabolism and hormones in check. How much sleep is sleep deprived? Five or less hours per night. Proper sleep amounts on average are about 7.5 to 8 hours a night according to the Center for Disease Control (https://www.cdc.gov/sleep/about_sleep/how_much_sleep.html)

Also lack of sleep may be hurting your performance in the gym and hindering your recovery. First lack of sleep can lead to lack of energy in the gym, therefore can lead to poor performance so you will not be getting the most from your workouts to meet your goals whether it is performance or losing weight.  It also effects the body’s ability to recover leading to less muscle building and more fat storage.

If you are not getting enough sleep at night here are a few things you can do to help.

Try to have a consistent bedtime and wake time, at least 7 hours.

Do not use electronic devices one hour before bed. The blue light from screen has been shown to be very disruptive to sleep (www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/blue-light-has-a-dark-side)

Keep bedroom cooler btw 60-65 degrees. Sleeping in a hot environment can lead to increased wakefulness.

Quiet and dark room

Do not eat a heavy meal right before bed.

Avoid caffeine after 2pm

There are also sleep Apps available if are interested in tracking hours as well a quality.

Sleep is often an overlooked, but very important factor when losing weight, changing body composition or increasing performance on the gym.