so we all know we need sleep.. but the importance of it when dieting, living life to the fullest, being successful and happy is increasingly overlooked when talking to new clients.
so FIRSTLY we have different stages of sleep, our most restorative stage is our light sleep, which tends to be more towards the first part of our sleep!
this is where we recover , repair, and restore (so relevant to training, the gym, and stress)
clinical trials have shown that we are less likely to remember things, be less resilient and less likely to be able to deal with stress during the day when we’re sleep deprived. So if you’re studying and want to remember things, sleep afterward! Or if you’re going through stressful periods sleep is going to allow you to deal with it marginally better (easier said than done when you’re stressed)
so how is this relevant to weightloss?!
well trials found that participants who were sleep deprived 4.5hrs sleep, participants that had no sleep 0hrs in comparison to 7hrs + snacked more throughout the day, and went for high carbohydrate, fat and sugary things in the evenings. And over time this means slowly you’ll be consuming higher calorie intakes which leads to weight gain.
why?!
our body produces a hormone called ghrelin in our gut (the hunger hormone) this is also relevant to our carcadium rhythm (day and night) so when we are sleep deprived, our hormone production is off, and because our hunger hormone tells our brain we’re hungry and also the hormone the helps identify satiety (fullness and satisfied) if it’s out of wack so are your cravings and hunger signals.
as we know stress leads directly to a disrupted night sleep, and it’s so hard when life chucks things at you, the kids are up, there’s so much to do in the day!
so here’s some things I suggest to clients to work on that will directly impact sleep quality positively …
1 break stress up throughout the day, take 5-10 minutes of you time between tasks, events conversations, meetings etc. and don’t leave all the stress to later in the day !
2 stay hydrated!! Yep, dehydration leads to a higher resting HR and a higher resting heart rate leads to poor quality sleep.
3. get some EXERCISE even if it’s a 20 minute power walk, I encourage my clients to do something little every day. This is also relevant to fitness levels, resting heart rate being lower due to regular activity will help long term.
4. try eating most of your food in the day, when it’s light, I know this is unmanageable in the winter months but this helps support our body clocks and digestion leading to better sleep.
Give these a go! Any questions please message me via the contact form
Jas x
