Lack of sleep can sabotage not only your fitness goals but also your health.

A lot of the time I am dieting either to gain or lose weight. I am always focusing on two things following my diet strictly and pushing myself hard in the gym. While these are two of the most important things to me sometimes I fall victim to lack of sleep. Work, gym, meal prep, and daily activities tend to come first and unfortunately sleep becomes a lower priority.

Maybe in your mind the worst thing that comes from poor sleep or the lack of sleep is feeling terrible in the morning there is a lot more to it. Sleep has a large influence on what goes on inside your body. One study showed that subjects with two nights of a sleep restriction of 4 hours a night had a reduction in Leptin (18%) and an increase in ghrelin (28%). As we have discussed before Leptin is involved in appetite suppression and ghrelin increases your hunger. Because of these changes subjects had a 24% increase in hunger rating. It is easy to see how this could make dieting much harder. Another study of 11 men who got 4 hours of sleep for 6 nights found that those men had reduced glucose (sugar) tolerance of 40%. Their blood sugar would be higher after consuming sugar than those with normal sleep. This could mean a few things either the body had become less sensitive to insulin (a blood sugar lowering hormone) or the body was secreting less insulin. Insulin doesn’t just regulate blood sugar but also acts as a growth hormone making it very important for our health and metabolism. Lack of sleep also plays a role in the reduction of our normal growth hormone secretion. Nonexercise related release of growth hormone is secreted the most during overnight sleep so you can see why the lack of sleep becomes a problem. Growth hormone is a substance in our body that helps build muscle and break down fat amongst many other things. Lack of sleep has also shown to increase cortisol which can cause you to break down muscle and increase your appetite. While we have discussed some of the fitness related concerns with lack of sleep some of effects on your health are much more grim. In multiple studies lack of sleep has been linked to cardiovascular disease (heart attacks), stroke, and hypertension (high blood pressure.)

With all this in mind it’s best to aim for most adults aim for 7-9 hours of sleep if you can. Some older adults (>65) may require a bit less while teens require closer to 8-10 hours of sleep per night. Sometimes missing sleep is unavoidable due to your schedule and work. If you want to reach your goals faster you should try and make sleep more of a priority if you don’t.

For those of you who have a hard time sleeping here are a few tips that will help you avoid a lack of sleep.

Don’t oversleep if you feel rested get out of bed.
Have a set time to go to bed and wake up.
Avoid forcing sleep
Get good exercise each day and if possible not within 4-5 hours of bedtime
Avoid caffeine after lunch
No alcohol near bedtime, it may help you fall asleep but the sleep will be lower quality and you may be prone to waking up in the middle of the night.
Avoid smoking, especially in the evening.
Don’t go to bed hungry
Adjust the bedroom environment, no TV, cooler temperatures, avoid lights (cell phones)
Try to deal with worries and concerns before laying down, make a list if you need to for problems to focus on the next day.