Sleeping habits, much like eating habits and exercise, are closely linked to hormone health and metabolism. Research shows that good quality sleep can improve overall health and optimize metabolic function and productivity in your wakened state.
Interestingly, lack of adequate sleep can actually keep you from reaching your fitness goals. Lack of sleep leads to cravings for high sugar or high carbohydrate foods and reduces the brain’s willpower to say “no” to such foods, resulting in potential weight gain. This is a common struggle - quite a lot of people find it hard to stay disciplined when it comes to dieting. Perhaps this is something we could potentially remedy with good quality sleep.
With good quality sleep comes many more benefits. Up to 75% of Human Growth Hormone (HGH) is released during sleep. Human growth hormone promotes a healthy metabolism and enhances physical performance. It increases protein synthesis (muscle growth) and increases lipolysis (fat burning). When you get a good 7 to 9 hours of sleep at night, your body tends to release higher amounts of HGH. Since HGH promotes #fatloss and stimulates muscle growth, it’s very apparent that it positively contributes to your Basal Metabolic Rate, a component of Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) responsible for up to 70% of your daily calorie usage.
"Up to 75% of Human Growth Hormone (HGH) is released during sleep."
Lack of adequate sleep is also considered a form of stress by the body. Your body constantly responds to stress by triggering the release of cortisol, commonly known as the “stress hormone”. Cortisol is catabolic in nature, meaning it can lead to muscle break down. By minimizing cortisol levels, you can retain more of the lean muscle you work so hard to build. Though cortisol plays an important role in the body by preparing it for taking immediate action (fight or flight), over time, it can lead to weight gain. Basically your body interprets lack of sleep as stress and releases more cortisol which makes glucose available for immediate use, so if you’re not using up that available energy due to inactivity, it can get re-stored as fat in the body.
So in conclusion, sleep directly and indirectly affects your health and body composition. Optimizing your sleep every night could potentially help you achieve your fitness goals, so it's worth paying close attention to the number of hours you sleep.
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