There are always numerous amounts of studies being done on improving our quality of life. More specifically, there is a lot of research on how much sleep impacts our every day lives. A recent study set out to prove if sleeping more can help you to lose weight.
This recent study found those that can sleep 8.5 hours had 55% greater fat loss than those sleeping 5.5 hours (who scored a whole whopping 5-5-percent). However, it isn’t just the fact that you are sleeping more, but it is more about what is happening while you are sleeping. While you are sleeping a lot of things are happening, muscles are breaking down, your central nervous system is calming down, your metabolic rate changes, etc.
In the study by The Academic Journal of Sleep, when those that got only 5.5 hours of sleep, more negative things happen that impact the body. There was a 37% increase in cortisol. Cortisol promotes muscle breakdown and slows down your metabolic rate, and when your metabolic rate slows down then there is less fat loss. Your hunger hormones increase your hunger and the hormone to limit hunger, decreases by 28%. Not only does your hunger increase, but your body craves up to 45% more sugary carbohydrate type foods. All in all, when you only get a limited amount of hours to sleep, your body isn’t helping you reach any of your goals. You’re hungrier, crave carbs, your metabolic rate drop and all of that hard work spent in the gym gets reversed when your body is breaking down your muscles when you’re not sleeping enough.
How To Get More Sleep
Get Help: If you are someone that really struggles to sleep, then you should probably seek out medical help. Not sleeping isn’t something you should just brush off. Sure you might feel you like you survive just fine for a little bit of time, but that can quickly add up and really start to be compounding to the body and your mental health.
Do Something Relaxing in the Evening: The evening is a time when your body needs to start winding down in preparation for restorative sleep. If you can fit in some yoga in the evening, great, even if it is just a 10 minute at home YouTube sequence, you are already off to a great start. If yoga isn’t your jam, then practice some deep breaths. Deeper breathing minimizes ‘fight or flight’ syndrome which can otherwise leave you feeling anxious and wide awake. It also helps to reduce the stress hormone cortisol, high cortisol levels are a contributing factor to muscle breakdown, which then doesn’t help your metabolism at all.
Drink EBOOST: We have some delicious products that are great for muscle recovery. If you are someone that likes to hit the gym hard, then our POW would be a great supplement for you to try. POW contains CarnoSyn® Beta-alanine, a natural amino acid that helps support muscle endurance and muscle strength and delays muscle fatigue during workouts. Beta-alanine is one of the most widely used ingredients for workout enhancement. It also contains, 5-HTP and L-theanine, two naturally occurring amino acids, that help power you through your workout without the anxiety feelings associated with other pre-workout products. Check out more benefits POW has to offer your body here.
Just because you don’t sleep well, doesn’t mean you can’t hit your workouts hard, you just need the right supplements to help your body recover better. Plus, lacking in sleep can really affect your workout the next day.
