You are working out, eating right, and taking all necessary steps to drop the weight but the scale refuses to cooperate! You cannot seem to figure out what is stopping you from reaching your fitness goals. Whether you are trying to lose weight or pack on the muscles, sleep could be preventing you from progressing. Would you believe that sleep is just as important as diet and exercise? Could this be the key factor that you are not considering? Studies show that at least 30% of adults are not getting enough of the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep each night.
Well we are here to tell you the truth, sleep is a key factor in the body's ability to lose fat and to achieve muscle hypertrophy. When we mention sleep we are speaking of good quality sleep. For the body to drop fat the metabolism must be functioning properly. In order for the metabolism to work properly, hormones must be be cooperating. Let's consider a vehicle, in order for the vehicle to operate properly the components of the engine must function properly. The body's hormones is the body's engine. The first Two hormones that we will discuss in relationship to sleep are leptin and ghrelin.
Ghrelin is a hormone that let's you know when you are hungry and sleep deprived. Leptin on the other hand signals the body when it is full as well as when you are sleep deprived. When you are Sleep deprived this is a key sign of low leptin. When the body is deprived of sleep the body produces excess amounts of ghrelin and lower amounts of leptin. In return, the body responds by overeating because the ghrelin hormone tells the body it is hungry and when in excess the body responds with an increase in hunger due to the increase in ghrelin. Leptin tells the body when it is full but when the body produces lower levels of leptin the body will feel hungrier.
The average adult should be getting between 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night. Sad but true approximately 30 percent of adults do not accomplish this, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Not only does poor sleep quality effect the ghrelin and leptin hormones but two other hormones that determine how we store and burn fat; insulin and cortisol. According to the University of Chicago, insulin sensitivity drops significantly when the body does not receive quality rest. Why is a drop in insulin sensitivity a bad thing? When one experiences insulin sensitivity there is an increase in insulin resistance. When there is an increase in insulin resistance lipids (fats) circulate in the blood stream and as an outcome, the body produce more insulin which leads it to store fat.
Another hormone that is impacted by poor sleep quality is cortisol. Cortisol is the body's stress hormone which is increased when the body does not have adequate amounts of sleep. The body recognizes poor sleep as stress and therefore the flight or fight response is initiated causing cortisol (as well as insulin) to increase. Cortisol is also responsible for reducing the production of growth hormone. When the growth hormone decreases the body's natural ability to burn fat and grow muscle decreases significantly.
If you are not making progress with your weight loss or muscle gains sleep could be the reason. It is a good idea to focus and make sure that you are achieving seven to nine hours of sleep daily. If you are deciding between rest or working out please choose sleep. If you are working out without the adequate amount of sleep you could very well be doing all the work for nothing if the body is unable to recover. A great portion of fat burning and muscle hypertrophy is achieved through the growth hormone. The growth hormone is most active during periods of rest. If the body is not achieving enough rest then you have little opportunity to increase your body's best ability to burn fat and gain muscle! Make sleep a priority for your body depends on it!
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