Does Sleep Help Your Fitness Goals?

If you’ve recently started exercising regularly and are learning about all the different types of training styles, sleep may be the last thing on your mind. You may be spending countless hours looking up the most effective and efficient ways to reach your fat loss goals. As you start familiarizing yourself with different exercises and their proper form, the next step in your fitness journey may be finding recovery aids. 

Some of the most common recovery supplements are:

• Branched-chain amino acids: most commonly known as BCAA’s; have been shown to build muscle, decrease muscle fatigue and alleviate muscle soreness.

• L-arginine: an amino acid that stimulates growth hormone, which aids in muscle growth, increased strength and recovery.

• Glutamine: an amino acid that speeds recovery by encouraging muscles to intake carbohydrates more readily post-workout.

• Curcumin: a potent anti-inflammatory component found in turmeric which reduces pain and swelling when used topically or taken orally.

• Protein powder: aids in muscle repair by ensuring that your muscles have the necessary building blocks to build strength and prevent muscle wasting.

• Omega-3 Fish Oil: renowned for its anti-inflammatory properties, it is essential for hormone synthesis and bone repair while reducing muscle soreness.

• Probiotics: help to supply the gut with healthy flora necessary for digestion, absorption, elimination and immune function. If your gut is not functioning properly you will not be able to absorb the necessary nutrients for muscle repair.

However, there is one if not the most important recovery aid we did not mention in the list above!

If you could take a supplement that could enhance exercise performance, repair the effects of stress and fatigue, and improve your immune system would you buy it?  

If you answered yes, put your wallet away because the recovery aid we are talking about is not only free but vital for your well being and health. 

It’s sleep!

Why do people struggle to get a good night’s rest? 

There are several theories as to why people have trouble sleeping, one of them considers, age-related factors:

Less melatonin:

• As we age, the pineal gland in our brain produces less melatonin. This could be due to the calcification of the pineal gland which decreases the effectiveness of melatonin release. This can be problematic as melatonin assists with communicating to your brain and body when it's time to sleep and wake up.

Fewer growth hormones:

• The pituitary gland produces fewer growth hormones as we age. Research has shown a reciprocal relationship: not only does more deep sleep produce higher levels of growth hormone but more growth hormone tends to induce longer and deeper stages of deep sleep. 

Other factors such as medical issues, stress, poor sleep habits, inadequate nutrition and lack of exercise can also be contributing to not only decreasing the number of hours of sleep but the quality of rest.

How does enough sleep help you with your weight loss goals?

Are you trying to shed a couple of pounds of fat? Then monitoring the number of hours you sleep is key! Several studies have shown the connection between sleep deprivation and its effects on weight gain. More specifically research has highlighted that people who slept less or had disturbed sleep at night tended to put on more weight. Additionally, the quantity as well as the quality of sleep you get at night has a significant impact on the hormonal activity in our body. 

Ghrelin and Leptin which is tied to your appetite, are the two hormones that signal our brain when we are hungry and/or full:

• Leptin decreases your appetite while

• Ghrelin increases appetite

  When you are deprived of sleep, your body produces more ghrelin. Since we mentioned that Ghrelin increases your appetite this is why you may notice an increase in food consumption on the days where you haven’t had the best sleep the night before. To go into further detail read below!

Hunger spikes

As mentioned, when the body is sleep-deprived, the level of ghrelin spikes, while the level of leptin falls, leading to an increase in hunger. The reason for this is because leptin is the hormone that sends a message to your brain to let you know when you feel full so that you can stop eating. Therefore, the signal to your body to stop eating is quite weak.

• When you are sleep-deprived, your metabolism also slows down, making it difficult for the body to burn more calories. These factors combined will eventually make it difficult for you to lose fat over time. 

Fatigue

When you haven't had the best night rest you tend to feel lethargic. This can lead to reaching for the quickest meal option which may increase your chances of choosing an unhealthy meal.  To boot, it's important to consider that less time in bed simply gives you more hours of the day to eat. 

Pleasure seeking

A lack of sleep kicks off a process in the body that raises the blood level of a lipid known as endocannabinoid. This acts on the brain in a similar way to marijuana, making the act of eating more enjoyable, especially in the evening. But it increases hunger for specific types of foods, such as cookies, candy, and chips. 

Note! researchers have stated that people who don’t get enough sleep eat twice as much fat and more than 300 extra calories the next day, compared with those who sleep for eight hours.

In order to limit these negative effects, you need to ensure that your body gets sufficient amounts of sleep. Easier said than done right? 

Now before you throw in the towel, know that there are many ways to improve the quality of your sleep. Also, over time adequate amounts of sleep will help with returning your ghrelin and leptin levels back to normal. At the very least, your body will stop gaining excess weight due to sleep deprivation.

So how do we do this? 

What are some effective methods that can help with sleep?

#1: Clear your mind 

At times life can be stressful which can lead to difficulties falling asleep. However, have you ever wondered about the science behind why? 

Let’s take a look at the topic surrounding Cortisol

Cortisol is your body’s built-in alarm system. Put simply it is a stress hormone that helps to control your mood, motivation and fear. Having chronically elevated levels of stress will undoubtedly cause sleep difficulties such as prolonging how long it takes to fall asleep and fragmenting sleep.

This is because not having an adequate amount of sleep per night (e.g. approximately 7-9 hours) triggers our body's stress response, which then leads to an increase in stress hormones, namely cortisol. Since cortisol plays a major role in stimulating wakefulness, it can be troublesome as these high levels will undoubtedly keep you up at night. 

Although cortisol is associated with stress it also helps with other important physiological functions. With that said there are ways to keep this hormone at a healthy level so that you are able to get a good night’s rest. 

Mindfulness 

Studies have shown that deep breathing exercises as well as awareness of your levels of stress and how you cope can reduce cortisol levels. Mindfulness is extremely beneficial since it encourages you to challenge negative thinking patterns by replacing them with positive ones. Specific strategies such as calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts are greatly therapeutic. Other strategies such as journaling, meditation and engaging in yoga are also beneficial in promoting a great rest.

#2: Exercise 

Working out on a regular basis throughout the week is one of the best ways to enhance your mood and keep you healthy. With respect to sleep, exercise has been shown to ameliorate your sleep quality due to many factors. Some of these include: 

Oxygen:  exercise helps you sleep by increasing the amount of oxygen in your blood. Oxygen is necessary for sleep especially for individuals who have obstructive sleep apnea where not enough oxygen is allowed into the body, thereby interrupting sleep. 

Ready to hit the hay:

Exercise also helps to tire a person out. This may sound simple, however, a sedentary person may not feel tired by the end of the day, although their body has the same requirement for sleep as does the body of an active person.

Calmer + Regulated : 

As mentioned previously a reduction in stress can significantly improve your sleep quality and reduce the amount of time it takes to fall asleep. Since exercise causes the release of hormones called endorphins, your body’s response is to feel calmer which is excellent at combating stress and encouraging a good night’s sleep.

Exercise also helps to release the hormone serotonin into the body. This is crucial as serotonin not only helps with digestion but also regulating mood and sleep patterns. That is, it assists with regulating your internal clock so that your body knows when to wake up and when to rest.   

Don’t forget! 

Since exercise raises your cortisol levels acutely in order to “wake you up” i.e. make you feel more alert, separate your training routine from your bedtime routine by at least three hours. This is because you will find it more difficult to fall asleep since your heart rate is elevated. 

Two-way benefit! 

Sleep also repairs your body and muscles after a workout

SLEEP BASICS: 

The sleep cycle lasts about 90 minutes. You will move through five stages of sleep. 

• The first four stages make up our non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, and 

• The fifth stage is rapid eye movement (REM) sleep 

During Non-REM sleep, your blood pressure drops and your breathing becomes deeper and slower. Also, your brain and body are resting which means a good portion of your blood supply is available to deliver oxygen and nutrients to your muscles which facilitate their healing and growth. 

#3: Nutrition

In general, having a well-balanced diet that is rich in fruits and vegetables will not only help with your sleep but keep your body healthy overall. 

However, when it comes to sleep there are a few specific foods that have been specifically linked to a better nights rest: 

  

• Bananas                          

• Oatmeal

• Almonds

• Turkey

• Kiwi

• Tart Cherry Juice

• Salmon, tuna, trout 

• Walnuts

• Spinach 

Vitamins and Sleep

Attaining a blood work report from your family physician can help determine if you are deficient in any of these important sleep-related vitamins: 

• Vitamin D

• Iron

• Magnesium

• Vitamin E

• Vitamin C

• B vitamins

Other helpful sleep tips: 

• Ensure that you have a couple of hours after dinner to digest before going to sleep. 

• Avoid fatty and spicy foods before bed as they can contribute to painful heartburn

• Limit the amount of caffeine you have in a day as it takes six hours to clear half of the caffeine from your body instead; 

• Drink a glass of warm light beverages like Passionflower and/ or Chamomile Tea

• Although a glass of wine or two will make you feel relaxed or even sleepy, it can impact your ability to have a deep sleep. 

• Stay hydrated! Scientific studies show that a common theme in people with insomnia is that they do not drink enough water. Remember up to 60% of the human adult body is water. 

• Staying hydrated throughout the day is key however avoid drinking fluids half an hour before bed so that you don't have to wake up in the middle of the night.

• Avoid browsing the web and or watching TV half an hour before bed as the blue light emitted from technological devices have been shown to block melatonin production.

“A good laugh and a long sleep are the two best cures for anything.”

~Irish Proverb

 

References: 

Markwald, R. R., Melanson, E. L., Smith, M. R., Higgins, J., Perreault, L., Eckel, R. H., & Wright, K. P. (2013). Impact of insufficient sleep on total daily energy expenditure, food intake, and weight gain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(14), 5695-5700.

Minet-Ringuet, J., Le Ruyet, P. M., Tome, D., & Even, P. C. (2004). A tryptophan-rich protein diet efficiently restores sleep after food deprivation in the rat. Behavioural brain research, 152(2), 335-340.

Youngstedt, S. D. (2005). Effects of exercise on sleep. Clinics in sports medicine, 24(2), 355-365.

Chennaoui, M., Arnal, P. J., Sauvet, F., & Léger, D. (2015). Sleep and exercise: a reciprocal issue?. Sleep medicine reviews, 20, 59-72.

Lichstein, K. L., Payne, K. L., Soeffing, J. P., Durrence, H. H., Taylor, D. J., Riedel, B. W., & Bush, A. J. (2007). Vitamins and sleep: an exploratory study. Sleep medicine, 9(1), 27-32.

Ong, J. C., Ulmer, C. S., & Manber, R. (2012). Improving sleep with mindfulness and acceptance: a metacognitive model of insomnia. Behaviour research and therapy, 50(11), 651-660.

Winbush, N. Y., Gross, C. R., & Kreitzer, M. J. (2007). The effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction on sleep disturbance: a systematic review. Explore, 3(6), 585-591.