Why a Better Night Sleep Should Be a Part of Your Fitness Routine

Why a Better Night Sleep Should Be a Part of Your Fitness Routine : The majority of fitness enthusiasts think that what they do in the gym only matters. While this is not entirely true, activities outside the gym, including diet – what you eat and drink, and sleeping patterns significantly matter as well. A good night’s sleep plays a significant role in how the body functions, changes, and grows. As such, good sleep should be part of your health routine and your fitness routine.

There is a direct relationship between sleep and exercise. There is a high concentration of growth hormone, which helps in muscle build-up and repair during sleep. Therefore, fitness enthusiasts engaging in various exercise routines, be it cardio or strength training, should get a good night’s sleep to allow the body to strengthen and repair. That said, below are some effects of poor sleeping patterns to fitness routines.

Poor Sleep Affects Gym Time

The direct effect of poor sleep on gym time is substantial. The disastrous effects of inadequate sleep significantly affect your performance during gym sessions. Regardless of your fitness goals, growing some muscles should be the number one priority. Muscles help in burning fats and contribute towards achieving your fitness goals. However, lack of sleep is bad for your muscles for many reasons.

For starters, poor sleeping patterns decrease the rate of protein synthesis, which is the ability of your body to make muscles, leads to high injury incidence and causes significant muscle loss. Lack of sleep also makes it difficult for the body to recover from fitness sessions as it slows down the production of growth hormone.

Besides, inadequate sleep increases the production of cortisol, which is the body’s stress hormone. Cortisol affects the already reduced production of growth hormones in such a vicious cycle. That said, fitness enthusiasts who don’t prioritize sleep will find exercise routines unbearable. Suffering from sleep debt makes workout sessions overly challenging.
Sleep Affects Diet

Health experts associate the argument between successful exercise routine and healthy weight with movement and eating. Most recommend that if you want to achieve a good looking and fit body, you should eat less food and move often. While this may not be simple, especially for those who eat less and move more, it is totally impossible for those who suffer from deficient sleep.

Between exercising, eating, and movement, there is sleep, a significant contributor to achieving a healthy body. According to the CDC, approximately 30 percent of adults suffer from a lack of sleep. Similarly, the percentage of adults with obesity is almost the same, implying that sleep has a direct effect on diet.

Lack of enough sleep, which is estimated to sleep less than 7 hours at night, directly affects a proper diet’s health benefits. Poor sleeping patterns frequent hunger episodes reduce satisfaction after meals and impair the energy to exercise.
Poor Sleep Increases Food Craving

Most people wrongly believe that hunger episodes are caused by a lack of control over the stomach. This is not true, as leptin and ghrelin hormones cause hunger and food craving. Leptin hormone is produced by fat cells. Reduced production of leptin by the fat cells makes your stomach feel empty. On the other hand, increased production of ghrelin leads to increased hunger, reduces the calories burnt/metabolism in the body, and increases the level of fat storage in the body.

Sleep deprivation makes it difficult to control the levels of leptin and ghrelin hormones in the body. Poor sleeping patterns trigger the brain to increase food craving, depress the production of leptin, and stimulate ghrelin production. That aside, as mentioned, sleep debt stimulates the production of cortisol. This stress hormone is associated with fat gain, as it activates the brain to crave more food.

Similarly, less sleep increases the production of ghrelin in the body. A combination of cortisol and ghrelin deactivates brain centers that stimulate satisfaction after eating, making you feel hungry even after a heavy meal. Additionally, sleep deprivation leads to impaired judgments on a diet, especially for fitness enthusiasts who are on strict dieting. Lack of enough sleep impairs the activity of the frontal lobe of the brain, which regulates complex decision-making, such as avoiding junk.
Poor Sleep Alters Body Fat Cells

If you have ever suffered from sleep deprivation, you understand the exhausted, confused, and dazed moods that follow. Poor sleep affects the body, mind, and fat cells as well. Lack of enough sleep subjects the body to metabolic grogginess. This occurs due to the body’s disrupted ability to use insulin. With unregulated insulin production in the body, fatty cells filter lipids and fatty acids from the bloodstream, preventing storage.

Poor regulation and use of insulin lead to increased concentrations and impaired fat metabolism. Storage of excess fats in the body tissues such as the liver leads to weight gain and impaired fitness.

Conclusion

Sleep is an essential component of the body’s overall health and wellness. Apart from the widely known health benefits of satisfactory sleep, it improves workout recovery and heightens your workout routines. That said, with various distracters, including cell phones, computers, TVs, and tablets available, you may find it difficult to achieve a good night’s sleep. However, following some healthy sleeping habits can significantly help. Proper preparation of your bedroom, including using a comfortable mattress, working on bedroom interior, and creating a bedtime ritual, can stimulate long and deep sleeping patterns.

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