Exercise and nutrition are the two most talked about topic regarding weight loss, understandably so. Those two pillars will always be the bedrock to achieve your weight loss goal. However, there is a third pillar far into the abyss that isn’t talked about enough, it’s called sleep.
Yep, you heard that right. Sleep!!
S…. l…. e…e…p
It’s not the common thought in mind to what could be preventing you from losing weight, but sleep can very well do that. So, get your sleep, just saying.
That’s it. Thanks for reading, I hoped this helped.
Lol, I am just kidding. Lighten up a little, being serious all the time wouldn’t get you anywhere.
Anyway, let’s get straight to it.
Quality of Sleep is What Matters
You’ve probably heard of this expression countless times “it’s not how much sleep you get, but the quality of sleep you are getting.” This still holds true for obvious reasons, one being your energy level when you wake up. You can be getting anywhere between eight to ten hours of sleep, but if constant turns and waking hours are being spent intermittently for that duration of sleep, chances are you aren’t getting good quality sleep. Your quality of sleep is just as important as your nutrition and exercises. Just because sleep doesn’t get talked about enough, probably not at all as it pertains to fitness doesn’t mean it’s not equally important when losing weight may be your goal.
During your sleeping hours, you will go through four stages of sleep. I can very well just sit here while seeping on my caramel Frappuccino detailing these four stages to impress you, but I am not.
- Not to sound crass but I really don’t care about impressing you. it doesn’t do anything. However, I care immensely about helping you lose weight.
- I don’t think you care either about the actual science of these four stages, however, I am certain you do care on how it can prevent you from losing weight.
For those two reasons alone, I’ll just briefly talk about the stage of sleep that should matter to you. Before I start, I just want to get something quickly of my chest and I need your honest take on it as well.
$5 for a small Frappucino…. I mean come on…. that’s a bit much
Alright where was I
Oh yes, the stage of sleep that you should care about.
Deep sleep (stage 4) can affect your weight loss progress. The quality of your sleep is predominantly tied to how long you are in deep sleep. You can sleep a total of six hours, and if all those sleeping hours are in deep sleep, that’s a good thing and conversely you can sleep a total of six hours, but if only two of those hours are in deep sleep, your quality of sleep diminishes significantly, which in turn can impact your ability to lose weight.
Bro… how exactly does this prevent me from losing weight?
I’ll tell you how. Ghrelin and Leptin.
Poor Sleep Quality and Appetite
Ghrelin and Leptin. They’re responsible for hunger and satiety (feeling full after meals). The quality of sleep you are currently or should be getting can dictate whether you feel hungrier and fuller after meals throughout the day. Research like this one has shown how the effect of sleep loss has on appetite. It concludes in saying “studies have clearly shown that sleep deprivation can alter the glucose metabolism and hormones involved in regulating metabolism, that is, decreased leptin levels and increased ghrelin levels.” Essentially if you find yourself hungrier and having trouble staying full after meals, chances are ghrelin has gone up and leptin has gone down which are contributing factors to overall poor consistent sleep quality.
I can’t just tell you to get more sleep, I have zero context of your day-to-day life stressors, struggles and a multitude of other things that can prevent you from getting good consistent quality sleep. All I can tell you is how massively important it is toward your weight loss goal.
I may not know what could be preventing you from getting good quality sleep, but I can find out and we can then talk about it and find ways to help you. Shoot me an email or leave a comment below.
Poor Sleep Quality and Stress
The impact of poor sleep goes far beyond just appetite, it can also have a big influence on your stress levels which can contribute to you not losing weight. Consistently getting poor sleep, increases cortisol levels (stress hormone), an increase in cortisol levels causes the body to store more fat while using other tissues like your muscles as its energy source. That is not what you want, especially when losing weight is your main goal. As you may already know, to lose weight you need to be in a calorie deficit (eating less calories over-time) and in the process of doing that you want to be holding on to as much muscle as possible while losing fat. If you want more depth on being in a calorie deficit to lose weight, How Many Calories Do I Need to Eat to Lose Weight? can help you out. Having said that, if your nutrition and exercises are dialed in, but your sleep isn’t, that can be a major road block to achieving your goal. Take your sleep seriously, because essentially what your body is telling you is:
- I will use these fat cells as a form of storage instead of burning it
- I will you use your muscle’s instead as the primary burning energy source
Leaving you frustrated and confused. Which in turn can cause you to quit altogether and revert back to your old bad habits that lead you to this point to begin with. A vicious cycle that I am sure you want no part of. Maximize good quality deep sleep, even if it’s just five or six hours.
Poor Sleep Quality and Physical Activity/Food Selection
We all know too well the effects of tiredness on our ability to exercise and the type of food we go after. Science doesn’t need to tell us; our behavior dictates that. I mean think about it, I am sure you can think back of a time when you were tired, it may have been yesterday. The point I am trying to make is, days in which we feel tired, we don’t want to do anything, let alone exercise. We definitely don’t care on what healthy food options are available, it’s just much easier to grab that pizza and soda instead of the salad.
No judgement here, I’ve done it myself…. countless times…
It’s easy to overlook how sleep can influence your decision-making skills, from disregarding your exercises to making poor food choices, but it can. This starts to become a problem when it’s consistently being enacted on a daily, weekly, monthly and eventually yearly basis, where it creates a perpetual mental ecosystem to give up on your weight loss goal.
Conclusion
Nutrition and exercises are imperative, but sleep the unforgotten pillar equally plays an important role. Once again, it’s not the quantity but rather the quality of sleep you’re getting that can prevent you from losing weight. On a serious note, take your sleep a bit more seriously. Your overall health depends on it