How Sleep Helps Us Achieve our Health and Fitness Goals

At Fitness Inspired, we strive to exemplify and help people learn what it means to live a healthy lifestyle. “Wake up and Work Out” and “Follow the Food Plan” are always principles we swear buy during our monthly boot camps. However, maybe there is one thing we need to prioritize just as much as those two things. That thing is sleep. Sleep may be one of the key components in helping you reach your health and fitness goals you have set in short and long term. Here are three things a good night’s sleep can do to help supplement a healthy lifestyle.

1. MUSCLE RECOVERY
When you have a good workout with lots of intensity and resistance, it isn’t during that time you are building muscle. You are actually tearing muscle. Exercise breaks down muscle fibers and it’s during rest and recovery that you build stronger and bigger muscle. When does a lot of that recovery time come into play? Well, while you are asleep of course! Athletes and people who are more active actually are recommended to get more sleep because of this very reason. Get in your 7-8 hours every night, and your muscles might just show a little better.
 
2. APPETITIE CONTROL
Hunger HormoneStudies have linked sleep to two very important hormones – leptin and ghrelin. Leptin is produced by the fat cells and lowers appetite while ghrelin is a hormone that increases your feelings of hunger. A study published in the journal Public Library of Science: Medicine found that subjects who suffered with a lack of sleep had higher levels of ghrelin and lower levels of leptin. Therefore, the less sleep you get, the hungrier you will be! Curb those cravings by getting to bed at a decent hour.
 
3. FAT STORAGE
​Your friends and family might notice when you don’t get enough sleep because of your grogginess and negative mood. But you know who else notices? Your fat cells. Scientific Journal Annals of Internal Medicine found that when people consistently don’t get enough sleep, their cells start to become insulin resistant. What that does is increase your blood sugar levels and the synthesis of fat. In simpler terms, if you get more sleep, you are less likely to store those unnecessary pounds. Scare that fat away by just getting a little more shut eye so your cells can efficiently do their job to keep you fit, active, healthy, and happy.