GSD: 2021 Fitness, Weight Loss, & Sleep

Get Shit Done in 2021, Part 2

It's been about a month since the #newyearnewme goals and resolutions were planned out.  You included healthier food choices and a workout plan.

Can you achieve your peak performance without quality sleep?

I won't make you wonder; The answer is NO So you're working your ass off in the gym and you're eating right. The number on the scale is going down... but what exactly are you losing if you're not sleeping enough?

Consider this study from2010 in Chicago: Participants who slept 5.5 hours lost 55% less fat than when they were sleeping 8.5 hours. This demonstrated that sleep deprivation increases weight loss of fat-free body mass.

Translation: your sleepy body actively HOLDS onto fat and burns lean muscle!

According to neuroscientist Matthew Walker, "Sleep might be the greatest legal performance enhancing drug that too few athletes are using!"  Quality sleep will optimize your body and mind to achieve the peak performance capacities that you've been training for.

If you've ever read anything about sleep and hunger or weight loss, you've seen the words "ghrelin" and "leptin."  If you haven’, here's a quick summary: ghrelin is a hormone that tells you you're hungry and want to eat, while leptin tells you that you are satisfied.  With just ONE night of poor sleep, the balance of these hormones is thrown off. The increase in ghrelin makes you feel unsatisfied, even after you finish a typically fulfilling meal. You can see how this can push us towards a path of overeating, snacking, weight gain, etc...

These hormones do not - I repeat, they DO NOT - make you fat overnight, or skinny while you sleep. It's all about habits and long term effects. It's about recognizing and understanding what's going on in your body and in your brain, so that you can make better decisions for a healthier you!

With the healthy balance being off in these hormones, you might also notice a change in your general appetite and desires.  In looking at MRI scans of well slept and under-slept people, their brain activity was significantly different. Specifically, the amygdala (deep emotional part of the brain) was lighting up much brighter when looking at "unhealthy" foods. It also appeared that, because of the sleep deprivation, the pre-frontal cortex was barely communicating with the amygdala.  That's the part of your brain that controls these desires -

HELLO impulsive popcorn and chocolate-eating late night... I know it's not just me...

So, now that we know what's really going on, let's work on it! Sleep can be improved with small, realistic changes, and we can help.

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There are active links in this blog to connect you to science and research to back up this info. Contact us for additional references if needed