How poor sleep sabotages fat loss, strength, and mental clarity
I know you have had at least one sleepless night in your life.
All of us have.
Night before an important exam, big project at work due, bills have been piling up, marriage proposal, kids are unwell, neighbours dog barking incessantly, etc, etc.
There can always be something keeping us awake at night, and some of those things are so very outside our control, all we can do is our best in those situations.
But what about? Oh just a quick scroll before bed. One more episode, this series is great! Hmm one more glass of wine will be ok. If I spend another 45mins on this project I can rest better. I might just check my emails before bed.
Those are all in your control. All of them can interfere with your sleep.
It might seem like a good idea to sort emails and work the night before, but it might also be better to get to bed a bit earlier and then set an alarm and attack those things with a clear mind the next day. Alcohol can interfere with decent rest. Another episode might turn into another as well! And so you end up asleep very late. And well, there is so much info out there about device usage in bed at night, that quick scroll is never just a minute or two either.
But the effects, and well I will give you some things to help.
There have been plenty of studies showing that a lack of sleep can really put a dent in fat loss efforts. Our metabolisms slow down in response to lack of adequate sleep, a slower metabolism can lead to either stagnation or weight gain for people.
While the impacts on strength aren’t as pronounced, it is more likely to have an impact on strength endurance, so if your job or workout calls on being stronger for longer, then that lack of sleep can really hit you hard here.
As for mental clarity, I am sure all of us know that foggy, groggy feeling when we have had a disturbed night sleep. Problem solving is impaired, and we see negative emotional responses to stressors tend to rise while positive reactions fall.
The cycle here can be pretty rough, poor sleep, leads to trying to relax, which can be some of the things I mentioned earlier, ie alcohol use, TV watching, social media use etc.
And then we are lacking sleep again!
What can we do??
Set up a good sleep environment. For everyone this will be different, but I want to give you some tools to try and see if they work if you feel like you are really lacking in the sleep department.
You want your room to be cool, not cold. Actually it needs to be like Goldilocks porridge, just right. Being too hot can really interfere with your sleep, ideally you want your room between about 16 and 20 degrees.
Scents. Some scents can help soothe and calm you leading to better sleep. Anecdotally and with at least one study lavender can help calm and reduce restlessness.
Sound. Believe it or not but sometimes silence is not best. White noise can help if you have issues like barking dogs etc near you. The white noise can help to reduce the effects of the loud unexpected noises like the barking. Sounds like rolling waves, gentle breezes, rain on a roof can help, and you can easily find them on apps like the Calm app or downloaded easily online.
Light. Reducing blue light before bed can really help in becoming drowsy and having sleep easier to accomplish. Blue light has us feel like it is still daytime, so if we can use blue light filters, have softer reds and yellows in our rooms for bed or to read to we can minimise this.
Braindumps, reading etc. A book can actually help to have the brain wind down, maybe a fiction that isn’t too exciting and has shorter chapters. BUT it must be paper, a kindle is not going to help with the light! A braindump is just that, grab a pen and paper, write down allllll the stuff in your head, yup all of it. Shopping lists, work projects, that time you got dacked in year eight at school, kids lunches to be made, washing to be done, that ridiculously embarrassing thing you said to your crush when you were 17, Write. It. All. Down! Once it is out of your head and on paper you may find you are clearer for sleep.
Clean sheets and a quick shower. Even if there is no research on it, how good does it feel jumping into clean, cool, fresh sheets when you are also all clean and relaxed??? And having a hygienic sleep area just can’t hurt really.
So there we are, yup, sleep can really interfere with our lives, and now I hope I have given you at least one or a few things that might help you get better rest each night.
Until next time, sleep well! Jim