You're following your diet plan down to each calorie, you're smashing your workouts and ramping up the cardio, but you're still struggling to see results. Have you considered the amount of z's you are getting? Sleep and rest is so crucial to not only your fitness journey but also your lifestyle and mental health. This article covers everything you need to know about why lack of sleep can be stopping you from getting your dream body.
Signs that you're not getting enough sleep
What lack of sleep can do to your progress
Useful tips on how to get a good night's sleep
Are you getting enough sleep?
Much like a fitness regime and a diet plan, there is no one size fits all when it comes to a sleeping pattern, but the recommended sleep for an average adult is 8 hours of sleep. if you're more active i.e you're ramping up your fitness levels and burning a lot of energy , fighting illness (physically or mentally) and other medical reasons, you may require more hours in bed.
One sign of you not getting enough sleep is feeling more hungry during the day, and there's science behind this. I won't go too much into detail but in a nutshell, when you're tired your stress hormones become more alert and can put your body into high stress levels because of high fatigue.
Difficulty to get out of bed when the alarm clock is screaming at you after being put on snooze 5 times already. If this happens often you may need to revise your sleeping patterns.
Mood swings and occurrences of depression can also be a result of lack of sleep as it causes irritability, which can increase your anxiety levels and your ability to cope with stress.
Starting to see a change in your skin? You may have dark circles or bags underneath your eyes which indicate a sign of lack of sleep, skip the expensive eye creams and get yourself a better night's sleep.
What can sleep deprivation do to my progress?
As mentioned earlier in the blog, when you're not getting enough sleep your body releases hormones as. a reaction to fatigue, stress hormones. These hormones can influence your appetite meaning you're more likely to binge and/or grab the wrong foods such as sugary snacks and they can have an influence on your metabolism.
No sleep = no energy. Which means you're not performing your best at workouts. Not only will you struggle to get a PB on that squat you've been working so hard for...but you can find yourself losing concentration and poor performance in the gym, you're also putting yourself at risk of injury if you choose to do a. workout out little sleep.
If you combine the two points above, do they sound like a combination for success? Not really. In fact, weight gain and no energy levels are unfortunately a perfect recipe for a curse of no motivation. You may find yourself skipping workouts, eating the incorrect foods and you may be back to square one after working so hard.
My useful tips on how to get a good rest...
Set yourself a routine whether this is shutting down your laptop an hour before bed, dedicating some time to dive into your favourite book make sure you get into a night routine. You'll find your body will adapt to this routine and you may drift off to sleep.
Put your phone on silent...or even in the room next door. In a world where we have online shopping, social media channels, the news and so much more in our small mobile devices, it can be difficult to part with them. I advise putting your phone and silent and invest in an alarm clock to wake you up. You can start by leaving your phone in the room next door so you don't feel like you need to grab it if you wake up in the middle of the night.
Give your bedroom a makeover well I don't mean painting the ceilings that favourite pink colour you've been inspired by some interior designer on Pinterest...think of the basics here. Have you got sturdy pillows that will help support your head and neck. Is your mattress the best for your back? Have you explored all of the different varieties of quilts? There's not a one size fits all for bedding so you may have to do some shopping in stores rather than online to test out the beds and pillow types. You never know...you may find this fun!
Explore fragrances like lavender as this is known to help improve a good night's sleep. You don't have to invest in a fancy room spray from a high end department store, but this could be something like a lavender scented body lotion or face oil, lavender bubble bath or a lavender candle burning before you begin to wind down.
Monitor you caffeine levels and opt for alternatives such as decaf teas and coffees. This will help you unwind down before bed and make you more likely to fall asleep when your head hits the pillow.
I hope you enjoyed this blog post and do hope you prioritise your sleep pattern as much as you would with your diet and exercise. I'd also love to hear some tips on how you manage a good night's sleep so please do drop me a message @thecurvecoach.
Did you know 18th March is international sleep day? If that's not an excuse to get a good night's sleep then I don't know what is!
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