Working out in the gym is not the only way to lose weight. What you do outside the gym – what you eat, what you drink, and particularly how you sleep – can also add a factor in weight loss. Instead, you have to sleep in order for your regular exercise routine to take effect. Knowing what time should I go to bed is a great way to start.
The purpose of doing exercises is to boost lean muscle mass, to enhance endurance, and more for cardiovascular health. However, all of these objectives need quality sleep. In other words, exercise will not provide those benefits without proper sleep. If you don’t sleep, your body will be weakened. An interrupted sleep cycle does not only significantly affect your weight, but also your weight. Unfortunately, sleep and weight loss have a direct relationship. You may not notice the efforts that you put on lowering your calories if you keep on cutting back on sleep.
During sleep, your body undergoes the process of recovery, restoring energy, consolidating memories, repairing and building up worn-out muscles from daily activities. Your body isn’t in an inactive state when you’re sleeping, which is quite the opposite of what other people think. You’re burning calories all the time. Moreover, your body generates growth hormones when you’re in deep sleep. This hormone is also responsible for development during childhood and adolescence and athletic recovery.
If you’re a 150-pound individual, the calculated calorie that you’re burning during a 7-hour sleep at night is a little over 440 calories. That’s like spending 40 minutes on a treadmill, with less effort. If you want to learn more about it, here are the ways how 8 hours of sleep can affect your weight management:
Sleep control your hunger hormones
Others believe that the best way to achieve a good and healthy weight revolves around diet and exercise. They think that the less you consume and more physical activities, the more you’ll look better. However, there are days that this suggestion seems to be impossible to do. The main reason could be is that you’re forgetting to get adequate sleep every night because you’re too caught up with your personal and work life.
Maybe, you don’t have the idea that sleep is the ultimate key to effective diet and fitness efforts.
According to a study, individuals who are sleep-deprived are more likely to have a larger appetite than those with a proper sleep schedule. This is because sleep has an adverse effect on two significant hunger hormones, which are ghrelin and leptin.
Ghrelin is a stomach-released hormone that signals the brain about hunger. Before eating, levels are high, which is when the stomach is empty. On the contrary, it drops down to a lower level after eating. While leptin is a fat cell-released hormone. It overpowers the brain’s signal hunger, changes it into full. The body produces more ghrelin and less leptin when you don’t get enough sleep. Hence, this will be leaving you an empty stomach and increase your appetite.
A research involving more than 1,000 individuals discovered that those who slept for a short time had 14.9 percent greater concentrations of ghrelin and 15.5 percent lower concentrations of leptin than those who slept properly. Also, those who sleep for a short period of time have a higher Body Mass Index (BMI). Moreover, if you don’t get sufficient sleep, your body’s production of the hormone cortisol will be greater. Cortisol is a stress hormone related to increased appetite. So maybe it’s time to crawl into your latex mattress and start losing some weight.
Lack of sleep can change your fat cells
Think of the last moment you’ve had a sleepless night. How did you feel in the morning when you woke up? Perhaps with a light of grumpiness?
Not only your brain and body feel like that— your fat cells do likewise. It suffers from metabolic grogginess when your body suffered from sleep deprivation. You may think that one late night won’t hurt. But as more sleepless nights go by, the next thing that you’ll know is that you’re now in sleep debt.
You might think that it’s only five nights, though. How severe could it be? You might be able to deal well with the help of your favorite coffee. However, the hormones that regulate your fat cells don’t feel the same as much as you do.
Having a lack of sleep for four days can impair your body’s capability to regulate your insulin. According to researchers from the University of Chicago, prolonged lack of sleep can decrease your body’s sensitivity to insulin by 30 percent. Well, how bad is that? It’s much worse than you think.
Fat cells remove fatty acids and lipids from your bloodstream when your insulin works well and stop it from accumulating. When your body becomes insulin-resistant, the fats, or lipids, that circulate in your blood will pump out extra glucose. This excess insulin will eventually end up storing fat in the unusual areas in your body. As a result, you’ll gain weight and have a higher risk of getting diabetes.
Adequate sleep can help you fight food cravings
In fact, lack of sleep changes the way your brain operates. Research shows that this may make it more difficult to make healthy decisions and withstand food cravings. Furthermore, sleep deprivation will adversely affect the activities in the brain’s frontal lobe, which is responsible for making decisions and self-control.
If you’re sleep-deprived, the rewards center of your brain will be fueled by food. After having a sleepless night, you’ll find it more difficult to stay away from a bowl of ice cream and practice self-control. Research has also discovered that the absence of sleep can boost your cravings to high-calorie, carbohydrate and fat foods.
The impact of sleep deprivation on food consumption were observed in a study with 12 men participants. When only four hours of sleep were permitted to respondents, their calorie consumption rose by 22 percent, and their fat consumption nearly doubled compared to when eight hours of sleep were permitted. Hence, with proper sleep and even cuddling positions, you can prevent these health complications.
Sleep can improve your physical activity
Getting a good night’s sleep is not only limited to increasing your strength to maximize your workout. In addition, it can improve your focus, concentration, and mood to get you ready for your workout routine.
Your body and mind will function more effectively and effective if you have proper sleep at night. According to a study in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, having complete hours of sleep has been proven to motivate individuals to follow their work out plan and exercise the next day. Also, research participants who have more sleep time have found out that they were able to finish their workout regimen than those who have less.
A research released discovered that not having enough sleep can actually make the workout feel difficult. Although sleep deprivation will not influence your cardiovascular and respiratory responses to exercise, it can result in daytime sleepiness, which can make you less motivated to get moving. Moreover, you’ll get more tired easily during a workout.
That doesn’t mean that having the required 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night unexpectedly turns you into a sports idol. A night of extra sleep will not necessarily make you stronger, or have better performance. What’s recommended is that you should be consistent in getting complete hours of sleep every night.
Prioritize Sleep
The link between sleep and weight loss can be difficult to overlook. While there is no exact amount recommended to certain individuals, you have to make sure that you get seven to nine hours of sleep per night. Also, having one bad sleep at night should not be followed up with a few more. Finally, getting adequate sleep can make much more difference than any other choice you make on health decisions. Knowing if do you need a box spring can make your sleeping experience much more different.