The Secret Ingredient to Getting Life Changing Fitness Results
Does it feel like you’re spinning your wheels when it comes to fitness or seem like you’re doing everything right and your progress has come to a grinding halt? You’re working out more days of the week than not and eating a clean diet(whatever that means these days) but the results just aren’t happening leaving you wondering, “what the heck is going on?” Whether your goal is gaining muscle or getting leaner you could be missing one of the most critical links to getting life changing results and not even know it!
One of the most over looked components of fitness (and health for that matter) that most busy men and women disregard is sleep and it costs them more than they know.
Building muscle, losing body fat, gaining mental clarity to make better choices and staying healthy all begin with a good night’s sleep. Sleep is so important that if you have to get fewer than 7 hours of sleep per night in order to workout you are stepping over $100 dollar bills to pick up nickels. You would be better off sleeping the extra hour instead of spending it working out.
Did you know that when you are sleep deprived your ability to metabolize glucose is impaired (in plain english, you’re pre-diabetic)? Not only that but you’re appetite regulation hormones leptin and ghrelin are also thrown out of whack which means that when you skip out on sleep you end up eating MORE than you need AND your body cannot handle the food that you do eat efficiently. Add in a soul crushing workout or two and you’re really setting yourself up for less than ideal results in regard to your fitness goal and your health(that matters too).
If you are struggling with always feeling hungry, or your energy dips and crashes throughout the day, or you have a raging sweet tooth, the first place you should be looking is your sleep quality and quantity. If you want improved muscle building, increased fat burning, better mental clarity, more stable energy during the day, lower blood pressure, normal blood sugar, improved mood, and better ability to handle stress, you need to fix your sleep!
When it comes to fixing sleep there are two major things to consider. First is the quantity of sleep you get each night and the second is the quality of said sleep you’re getting.
SLEEP QUANTITY
Current research has found that most people require at least 7.5 hrs per night +/- 0.5 hrs. That means you should plan for 8 hours of sleep each night. Typically there are two kinds of people who struggle with sleep quantity: those who suffer from insomnia and cannot sleep even with a dedicated 8 hour block of time set aside and those who simply choose to prioritize other activities over sleep.
The solution for those who are prioritizing other things over sleep is a relatively simple exercise. We simply need to weigh the things that you are choosing over sleep against your health and fitness to see if they are more important. By the way there will actually be times where this is a legit thing. Parents of newborns are a great example sacrificing sleep/health and fitness in order to take care of a new baby. Binging Netflix, scrolling through social media, and answering work email are not the best things to sacrifice your health and fitness over when you skip out on sleep. This is where learning to set better boundaries and improving your time management can be a gamechanger in freeing up enough time to get a good night’s sleep.
SLEEP QUALITY
The next piece of the sleep equation is sleep quality. Quality of sleep becomes critically important for those who for whatever reason cannot get the recommended quantity of sleep (again parents of newborns). A good night’s sleep begins before your head hits the pillow with a good wind down routine. In the 30-90 minutes before bed, you want to start preparing for sleep. That usually means turning down the lights, shutting off any screens (TVs, tablets, phones), and doing something relaxing which could be anything from personal hygiene to reading a book, to prayer or meditation,writing out tomorrow's to-dos, or even journaling. Whatever routine you choose, give it a good couple of weeks to implement. You won’t likely see an immediate improvement but, over time your body will get into a rhythm where you DO notice a benefit.
Once you’ve decided on a sleep routine it’s time to take a look at your sleeping environment. Taking steps to improve your sleep environment is where you will see almost immediate improvements in your sleep quality. First things first your room should be cold and dark. The optimal sleeping temperature is 68 degrees fahrenheit. Either set the thermostat to drop down to that temperature OR you can try sleeping on a ChiliPAD if you don’t want to cool the entire house down.
Next, go around and search for all sources of light in your room and black them out. Chargers, nightlights, alarm clocks, and other sources of that annoying neon glow should be covered up (I use painters tape on anything that can’t be unplugged), then take a look at your windows. A good set of blackout curtains and blinds is worth it for a great night’s sleep and as an added bonus you will improve the energy efficiency of your home. You can always go full meth-lab here and put tin foil on your windows too if you’re on a budget.
Once your room is dark and cool we can take a look at sound. If you room has walls that are thinner than paper and your neighbors are having full on rock concerts next door you may want to consider either a white noise machine or ear plugs or both. My wife and I discovered the value of a white noise machine when we had our first son sleeping in a bassinet beside our bed. After we moved him into his own room we immediately went out and got our own sound machine for our room.
With your room cold, dark, and quiet, the next piece of the sleep quality puzzle is taking a look at your mattress and pillow. When was the last time that you replaced your mattress? We spend roughly a third of our lives sleeping, do you really want to sleep on a mattress that sucks? The same goes for pillows. Find a mattress and pillows that allow for you to get a good night's rest and make the investment when you can.
If you have taken all of the steps listed above and you are still struggling with sleep quality its time to take a look at what’s going on during the day. Are you pounding caffeine like its going out of style or having a nightcap or two? Caffeine and alcohol are both known disruptors of sleep quality. Are you in pain? Anyone who has tried sleeping with painful joints or injuries knows that sleep is an issue. If you answered yes to any of the above questions, take some time to reflect and determine why you might need that much caffeine or to drink that regularly. Are you able to fix something in your day to day life which is causing you to over consume either caffeine or booze? Can you go get therapy or spend time improving mobility to get out of pain?
Great things happen to your health and fitness when you get more and better sleep. Don’t go on overlooking this critical component of your fitness and health goals. IF after taking all the steps mentioned above you still cannot get a restful night’s sleep, go get a sleep study done to help you find out what the next steps are. If you’re spending money on the latest supplements for fat-loss or muscle building and you’re NOT getting sleep…. You’re pissing your money away (literally). Fix the foundation so you can build the body of your dreams.