(Newswire.net — June 13, 2023) — Whether you’re starting a new fitness program, or your current journey has hit a plateau, it’s important to recognise that workouts are only one ingredient in the recipe for success. Nutrition, hydration, and lifestyle choices will all have an impact. Perhaps the most overlooked factor, however, is sleep.
A Good Night’s Sleep Alters Your Mood and Energy
Studies state that the average adult needs 7-9 hours of sleep per night while anything under five hours is shown to actively affect a person’s daytime functioning. If general daily tasks feel difficult due to a lack of energy, it’s very unlikely that workouts will go to plan.
In fact, it’s quite likely that you’ll skip workouts altogether. Finding the motivation for exercise when you feel physically and mentally drained is very tough. Conversely, though, a well-rested person will be in a far more positive mood.
Given that a strong mindset is the greatest weapon at your disposal, getting enough sleep could be the difference between exercising or not.
Sleep is Vital for Muscle Repair & Growth
Muscles need a chance to repair at the end of the day even when you haven’t exercised. After a workout, though, this process is essential. When you are asleep, anabolic hormones like testosterone and growth hormones aid muscle repair. This actively promotes increased muscle mass and reduced body fat levels.
Growth hormones, for example, are released during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) stages of sleep. This happens courtesy of the pituitary gland and will allow the muscle tissues to regenerate. Thanks to this rebuilding of the muscle cells, sleep plays an active role in helping your muscles become stronger
Research has also shown a link between poor sleep patterns and both increased protein breakdown and increased fat storage.
Sleep Helps Regulate Cortisol Levels
Cortisol is the body’s main stress hormone. While it has an important role to play in your health, regulating blood sugar and blood pressure, too much of it will harm you. As well as weight gain, it can lead to headaches, anxiety, or heart disease. Sleep regulates your cortisol levels but, as explained by The Sleep Doctor, cortisol influences your sleep.
Therefore, it’s imperative to regulate cortisol levels as too much stress will cause your body’s defense systems to falter and workouts to suffer. Exercise, particularly extended cardio, can lead to spikes. So, the importance of getting a good night’s rest becomes even greater. Ideally, you should sleep at roughly the same time each night.
When you get the cyclical routine of sleep and cortisol management under control, you will see benefits during workouts and other daily situations.
A Good Night’s Sleep Impacts Refuelling
Poor sleeping habits can increase the risk of falling into poor eating habits. Worse than that, though, inadequate sleep will affect the effectiveness of insulin. In turn, this will affect glycogen stores, which have short and long-term impacts on the body during exercise. So, the road to fitness will become far steeper.
Replenishing glycogen stores can take up to 24 hours, and sleep should account for around one-third of this. Of course, your sleep habits will also influence water intake and retention. In short, every aspect of feeding your body the right nutrients while assisting its natural functioning is dependent on sleep.
So, if you are ready to push your body to the physical limit during workouts, you must give it a chance to recover too. Sleep is the answer.
Invest in your Sleep Education!
Whilst this article gives an excellent overview of the importance of sleep in relation to fitness and recovery, extensive sleep research and academic studies have been carried out for many years!
For specific education on the role of sleep and its impact on fitness and recovery, you should look to one of the leading fitness education providers and consider their qualifications. The Fitness Group in the UK focuses on helping PTs understand the importance of a holistic approach to fitness and why sleep plays a fundamental role in rest, recovery, and future workouts.
For a wider understanding of how sleep plays a part in everyday life and overall health, well-being and mental health we recommend ‘ Why we Sleep’ by Matthew Walker.