Everyone wants to stay in shape & maintain that healthy physique. There has been a lot of information floating around about how to maintain & build a fit body & the advice on this narrows down to quantified nutrition coupled with strength/resistance training. It sounds simple, right? However, it is not so – such advice misses out one of the most important fitness pillars-Sleep. Recall when you had a poor sleep for whatever reason & the next morning you thought about working out & having low carb low fat or mediterranean diet. Believe me if you have had a poor sleep, none of those would be on your wish list. Sleep deprivation contributes in a profound way to your overall well being. The following paragraphs explain why having a restful sleep is crucial & how lack of sleep impacts diet & exercise:
- Increase appetite: When you do not get enough & restful sleep, your appetite increases. The reason is your body is trying to find ways to recoup the energy spent during periods of poor sleep & is a hormonal response. When you do not have adequate sleep, your leptin levels go down, however your ghrelin & cortisol levels go up. We have discussed in our earlier blog that leptin levels suppresses your hunger while ghrelin & cortisol do just the opposite. This hunger can also lead to poor dietary choices since our energy levels are fluctuating.
- Metabolism goes down: We all know that as we sleep our metabolism level slumps and goes down as do the other bodily processes. However, if we had a poor sleep, this metabolism slump continues throughout the day. The reason is your body makes alterations in glucose metabolism which can lead to weight gain.Since all your body systems are not operating at optimum levels, energy expenditure decreases, weight gain takes place & laziness sets in.
- Loss of Muscle Mass: If you had poor sleep, there are higher chances that you will lose muscle mass due to inadequate recovery. Muscles do not grow when you workout (either at home or gym). They grow when you rest & recover. This recovery takes place when you sleep adequately. A decrease in activity of protein synthesis (linked to poor sleep) is a vital reason why you may not be seeing the desired results.
- Impact on fat loss: This can be an eye opener for everyone. The amount of sleep is directly proportional to the maintenance of fat free body mass at times of decreased energy intake. When you are sleeping, your body is managing fat in your body. Therefore the main reason for obesity can be lack of adequate sleep. Correlation between sleep, diet & fat loss works well for people who have adequate & restful sleep as compared to those having poor sleep.
- Change in fat cells: Insulin is the hormone responsible for absorbing nutrients from food & regulating sugar level. If our insulin sensitivity is poor, then we may face problems digesting foods, turning them into fat. Poor sleep can result in low insulin sensitivity levels. This essentially means that you are consuming food of poorer quality since you lack energy. However due to insulin resistance, you will end up gaining weight & expose yourself to high risk of diabetes.
- Impact on your workout: If you had a poor sleep, your workout the very next day would be non-committal & your will feel fatigued. It can also lead to injuries. When you are fatigued, 10 minutes of weight lifting would appear as of 30 minutes. You would find yourself incapable of picking regular weights & end up doing the same number of sets.
- Poor food choices: When you do not have adequate sleep, you are more likely to consume poor quality/calorie dense foods. Not only that, even your portion sizes are likely to be bigger. This not only will increase risk of diabetes & obesity but will also deteriorate your overall health. Your brain activity is also lowered (since your brain will not get enough fuel).
So what should you do:
- Switch off electronic items at least 1 hour before you sleep
- Keep the lights (artificial lights) off
- Do not have caffeine post afternoon lunch
- Do not workout just before your bedtime (this may not be applicable for everyone)
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