SLEEPING AND FITNESS
How they are related and how can it affect you
Many of us Singaporeans have a very hectic lifestyle and sleep deprivation can affect us in many ways. Not only we are easily stressed, we feel lacking in energy and loss of focus on things we do or want to achieve.
1. Sleep loss affects the hormone cortisol. It causes you to still feel hungry even though you have eaten an adequate amount of food.
2. Sleep deprivation interferes with carbohydrate metabolism, causing high blood glucose levels. Excess glucose means an overproduction of insulin, which equals an extra storage of body fat. Eventually this can lead to insulin resistance which can contribute to diabetes.
3. When you are in a deep sleep, growth hormones are at work. A lack of quality sleep will reduce the amounts of growth hormones, which are proteins set out to regulate the proportions of fat and muscle in your body. This is the time your work in the weight room materializes. If you want muscle, you need a good night sleep!
4. The hormones leptin and ghrelin are also a big factor in weight loss and sleep patterns. Ghrelin tells you that you are hungry. Leptin lets you know when you are full. When you dont get enough sleep ghrelin rises while leptin levels fall. You wind up always feeling hungry. That is exactly what I experienced myself.
5. Symptoms of sleep loss such as stress and a lack of energy definitely affect your fitness plans. Adequate rest is crucial in sports performance. One of the most common reasons people fail in their quest to gain muscle mass is because they fail to appreciate the importance of rest to the muscle building process. This may be most frustrating way to fail because these people do possess the hard work ethic that so many others lack.To achieve maximum muscle gain, you simply must respect the value of adequate rest to the muscle building process.
So Aim for 7-8 hours of sleep every night!
This article is contributed by Mr. Winston Liow.
Winston is a personal fitness adviser with more than 10 years experience in helping Singaporeans keeping fit.
Many of us Singaporeans have a very hectic lifestyle and sleep deprivation can affect us in many ways. Not only we are easily stressed, we feel lacking in energy and loss of focus on things we do or want to achieve.
1. Sleep loss affects the hormone cortisol. It causes you to still feel hungry even though you have eaten an adequate amount of food.
2. Sleep deprivation interferes with carbohydrate metabolism, causing high blood glucose levels. Excess glucose means an overproduction of insulin, which equals an extra storage of body fat. Eventually this can lead to insulin resistance which can contribute to diabetes.
3. When you are in a deep sleep, growth hormones are at work. A lack of quality sleep will reduce the amounts of growth hormones, which are proteins set out to regulate the proportions of fat and muscle in your body. This is the time your work in the weight room materializes. If you want muscle, you need a good night sleep!
4. The hormones leptin and ghrelin are also a big factor in weight loss and sleep patterns. Ghrelin tells you that you are hungry. Leptin lets you know when you are full. When you dont get enough sleep ghrelin rises while leptin levels fall. You wind up always feeling hungry. That is exactly what I experienced myself.
5. Symptoms of sleep loss such as stress and a lack of energy definitely affect your fitness plans. Adequate rest is crucial in sports performance. One of the most common reasons people fail in their quest to gain muscle mass is because they fail to appreciate the importance of rest to the muscle building process. This may be most frustrating way to fail because these people do possess the hard work ethic that so many others lack.To achieve maximum muscle gain, you simply must respect the value of adequate rest to the muscle building process.
So Aim for 7-8 hours of sleep every night!
This article is contributed by Mr. Winston Liow.
Winston is a personal fitness adviser with more than 10 years experience in helping Singaporeans keeping fit.
