Not getting enough sleep good quality sleep, does far more than just make you feel tired and grumpy. It negatively affects you in just about every way you can think of, including massively hindering your fat loss efforts.
There are several ways in which, not having had enough sleep screws with your ability to lose body fat.
1. Your metabolism slows down, meaning you burn less calories, no matter what you do.
2. Your insulin sensitivity decreases, meaning more of the carbs you eat will be stored as body fat.
3. Your body craves carbohydrates, which obviously coupled with a decrease in insulin sensitivity is a disaster. More of the carbs you eat gets turned to fat and your body is literally begging you to eat more carbs.
4. Your energy levels plummet, leaving you far less able and willing to be physically active.
5. Your nervous system activity is dialled down, meaning even if you have the will power to work out, despite feeling like crap, you won’t physically be able to work as hard as if you had slept well. Nervous system activity is directly in control of how hard and how frequently you can contract your muscles. Put simply your strength and endurance both decrease.
6. Cortisol levels increase, which can increase abdominal fat storage and lean muscle break down. A pretty nasty double whammy for anyone wanting to be lean, strong and healthy.
The answer is simple, make a good night’s sleep an absolute number one priority for health and fitness. Pretty much every single area of your life will improve, if you get into the habit of sleeping better.
