The surprising reasons why sleeping more can make you leaner
Your diet's on point, you train like a beast in the gym, and your supplement stack never runs out. Are you missing the most anabolic item of all - sleep? Find out how sleeping more can get you leaner.
Have you noticed a difference in how you feel, train, and eat after you've had a good night's sleep? Now how about when you've stayed up too late, had an early morning alarm call, or had a really bad night's sleep? We know we're not the only ones who spend the day after an awful night's sleep craving carbs, reaching for comfort foods, and scraping our motivation off the floor.
There's a reason for all this. It's not down to your will power. It's down to science. So let's find out how, and why, great quality sleep will actually make you leaner (pretty quickly, too!)
What happens to fat burning hormones when we sleep badly?
Sleep is the single longest period of recovery we give our bodies. During sleep, our hormones balance, with powerful anabolic hormones like growth hormone and testosterone up-regulating and less desirables (cortisol) calming way down. When we are sleep derived, two key fat-loss hormones are massively affected. Leptin decreases and ghrelin increases, having a huge effect on how you perceive, respond to and manage hunger. The end result? Cravings, emotional eating, metabolic slow down, and the brakes slammed on fat loss.
What happens to diet and training when we sleep badly?
Sleep is particularly important for anyone dieting for fat loss, training hard in the gym, doing two-a-day training, or adding cardio into their training routine for calorie burn. Good quality, lengthy sleep encourages the body to build and protect muscle tissue and burn fat. Without enough sleep, the body spends more time in a catabolic state: eating into your hard-earned muscle and ignoring your fat stores. And it affects your performance, too, with athletic skills decreasing as much as 9% when you're sleep deprived. Speed, motor skills, co-ordination and even motivation will feel the effect, too. The take home? Neglect sleep, and stay fatter.
How to sleep better - and get leaner
If you're serious about gaining muscle, adding mass to your physique, and stripping body fat (particularly from your belly and abs), you do need to sleep more. Life is busy and your schedule is rammed, we get that. It comes down to priorities. How much does your physique matter to you? We can all get to bed a little earlier and take steps to ensure the sleep we get is deeper and more restful.
- Cut back on caffeine (including pre-workout stimulants). See what difference a no-caffeine zone of 6 hours before bed makes to your sleep
- Wind down slowly. Turn off the TV, computer, lap top and phone. Go for a walk, take a bath, sit quietly. Allow your mind and body to anticipate sleep
- Eat carbs for serotonin. If your macros allow, consider eating a carb meal before bed. Oatmeal or cream of rice are great choices to induce a state of sleepiness. Turkey also helps the body release serotonin.
- Make your bedroom dark. Eliminate as much light as possible, from outside lights and digital displays on clocks and sockets.
- Cooler is better. A slightly cold bedroom is better for restful sleep than one that's too warm
- Don't take your phone or tablet computer into the bedroom. Spending time online in bed is a recipe for bad sleep, as is waking in the night and going on to your phone. Leave them outside the bedroom.
- Wake up naturally to find your circadian rhythm, then go to bed at the same time every night.
- Declutter your brain every night before sleep. Write a to-do list for the next day, or jot down your anxieties and concerns. They can wait til morning.
Even if you're someone who thinks they don't need much sleep, or function fine on 4-6 hours, make an effort to get to bed earlier and sleep for longer. It will have massive benefits for training recovery, gym performance, muscle gain… and fat loss. It's the easiest (and most cost-effective) anabolic tool we have.
Sleep well!
