So goes my conundrum. I need the sleep, but I can’t sleep.
Why is sleep so important? Let’s start with the diet reasons first.
When you diet (and I am going to assume you are exercising with this diet…as I have prescribed), you still have this issue of making it through your day with the diet intact. Many things mess with this from stress to fatigue. It is very important to have the right chemical balance in your body during the day for metabolism. That includes the right foods and the right amount of water in your body. When we are tired, many of us increase our alertness through stimulants. The stimulant of choice for most of the world is caffeine in the form of coffee, tea, and (I’ll never adjust to this one) soda. The problem with these stimulants is that they dehydrate you. You may get an artificial energy boost, but you will deplete your system of the water necessary to the liver to process the fats efficiently. You also are robbing your muscles of a key ingredient in the rebuilding and, if you exercise later, exercise part of your diet. Proper rest will ensure you have enough alertness and energy to do without some of the stimulants.
Another thing that the low sleep habit does is give you more hours of awake time. When you are awake, you have more hours to possibly grab a snack and throw down unneeded food/fuel.
Just go to sleep and let your body replenish itself using what you have in the storage tanks. Those are the fuel supplies you are trying to get rid of anyway!
Now, on a good exercise program, like P90X or something else where you are really putting the work on your body, a good night’s sleep is necessary and essential. This is where I get into the biochemical brain processes. This process happens all the time, even in some of the lighter exercise programs, but I didn’t want to scare off those who are simply interested in losing some weight but not excellent physical condition. I want to stress though, all the reasons I am about to mention are the primary reasons your body needs sleep…diet or no diet.
The four things happening when you sleep are: (a) growth hormone is produced, (b) protein synthesis occurs, (c) energy consumption is reduced, and (d) your brain recharges.
Why are these important?
Growth hormone is produced. Any exercise that you are doing, particularly P90X, requires a degree of repair for the body. Human growth hormone is the necessary ingredient for this. Nearly 60-70% of all human growth hormone release happens in the deep sleep cycle. If you are not sleeping long enough to get into the deep sleep level (often called the REM part of the sleep cycle), you are not producing the growth hormone required for bodily repair. If you are doing very physically demanding workouts, this can actually be damaging. The REM sleep cycle is also where your body restores your organs, bones and tissue as well as replenishing those immune cells. There is a reason many of us with poor sleep habits get sick…we compromise our own immune systems. The HGH is a very necessary ingredient in the diet/exercise cycle.
Protein Synthesis occurs. When you exercise, if you are doing more than walking your dog, you are breaking down muscle. As I said earlier in this blog, the human machine is the most marvelous machine ever observed. It is the only one that gets more efficient through use. The reason for this is that, during sleep, it restores itself. Protein synthesis is one of the prime ways it does that. When your muscle restores itself, it repairs the damaged areas and you end up stronger in those places. Stronger. If that synthesis does not occur, you just keep breaking down the machine until it crashes. You are trying to make yourself stronger. Rest.
Energy Consumption is reduced. Physically demanding exercise routines require a good amount of effort . You need to be able to call on your body’s physical resources and really push them. If your body’s energy consumption is high due to a long day’s activity or improper sleep to recharge, you will tire faster and not be able to complete the exercise. You will quit early, if not altogether. This also leads to the reliance on stimulants during the day. Avoid this if you are interested in the diet/exercise cycle required to take the weight off.
Your brain recharges. Of the four, this one usually gets the “so what?” response. Motivation. You need to be motivated to do exercise. You also need it to get through your work day. Recharging the brain restores the alertness and motivation required. When you are tired, or get tired, your body produces something called Adenosine. The Adenosine tells your brain that it is time to recharge. The Adenosine is also a neurotransmitter that tells your body to produce more ADP. ADP is the energy storage molecules that power your body’s biochemical reactions inside cells. You are tired, the Adenosine kicks the ADP, which begins to push your body for more energy because you should be sleeping, but you are not. Your body only can do this for so long. You also use ADP when you work out. The same biochemical reactions that you need to stay awake will also be needed during exercise…but they will be close to depleted or overworked. You are going to not work out as hard and may even opt not to work out...because you are “shot.”
So, it is easy to see why sleep is not just important, but essential to any diet/weight loss program. We need it to stay alert and motivated, but the exercise that we should be doing regularly also requires that our bodies sleep for restoration.
Saying the “why” is the easy part. Now, can you go to sleep? It is not as easy as it looks!
Today is break day. Perhaps I will just treadmill and do the Ab Ripper. We’ll see. The body does need rest you know!!!
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