How A Fool Discovery Cured My Bad Breath.
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Author: Jon Le Tocq
The truth is you're probably like most of the modern world and you allow your sleep patterns to be dictated by what's on TV, how long it takes you to commute to work in the morning and how hungover you are from last night.
You might not be quite that uncontrolled but have some kind of routine. However, the chances are you don't understand nearly enough about sleep to make sure you are making the most out of it.
Not only must you be counting enough sheep to maintain high levels of concentration at work but this rest time is a critical factor in any fat loss regime.
In the past I had always gone along with the old myth that in order to be fresh the next day all I had to do was ensure I got 8 hours of sleep. Unfortunately our bodies are more complex than that.
I began to question whether it was most important to get a certain number of hours, get to bed at the same time every night or a combination of the two.
In this article I am going to look at these questions and break down the important facets of sleep as follows:
The various stages of sleep
The benefits of sleep
How you can optimise your sleep time
The first stage of sleep is characterised by drowsiness, relaxation of all your muscles and shallow breathing.
This occurs in the first ten minutes or so of sleep when you're not quite fully immersed in the joys of deep sleep and unexplainable dreams!
The second stage, for the next ten minutes your body really starts to relax and your heart rate slows down. Consequently your body temperature starts to drop and you become unaware of what's going on around you.
The third stage is Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep. This type of sleep usually occurs multiple times per night and is characterised by dreams due to increased brain activity and an increased heart rate.
The fourth stage is deep sleep. The stage you must reach for as long as possible, every night.
Sleep isn't just something nice to do at the end of a hard day at work or on a Saturday morning when you don't need to get up.
It is a vital part of the way your body recovers and recuperates from whatever stresses you throw at it over the course of a day.
Not only does it allow mental revival, but from a fitness perspective it must be considered as just as important as training and nutrition.
You cannot hope to train intensely on a regular basis if you are not giving your body enough quality recuperation time.
When you're lying there asleep, your body slides into a period of low metabolic activity. During this time there is increased blood flow to your muscles as less is needed for digestion, movement etc.
During deep sleep your body is also able to produce large amounts of growth hormones which enable it to rebuild the muscles you have worked hard during your exercise sessions.
Increased muscle building means a greater muscle mass and a higher metabolism. Ultimately it means you are burning more calories at rest and the next time you train. Over time you can turn your body into a fat burning furnace!
A study in 2000 by Cauter et al found that deep sleep decreases from 20% of total sleep time in males under 25, to 5% in males over 35, with a corresponding fall in human growth hormone.
This makes it particularly important for adults to pay greater attention to ensuring they maximise deep sleep as they get older if they are hoping to reduce body fat.
The recovery process, when maximised will also help ensure you don't feel so stiff or sore after a heavy weights session so make the most of it.
If you ignore your body's need for regular patterns of deep sleep you may find yourself struggling through training sessions and not getting any reward for your efforts!
Also, you must consider that a lack of sleep tends to lead to weaker immune systems and greater susceptibility to colds and infections.
Indirectly this will hamper your attempts to get rid of your belly as you won't be able to train and are likely to feel a greater need to comfort eat.
Finally deep sleep ensures your memory, reaction time and mental alertness remains high. This will do wonders for your day job and training sessions alike.
Implement as many of the following practices into your daily / nightly routine and you will soon feel more energetic, more alert at work and able to push through intense Storm Force Fitness training sessions on your way to a lean, great looking body!
Eat a pre-bed meal high in casein (a slow-digesting protein) and healthy fats. A good choice would be a protein supplement (high in casein) with milk and flax oil and half a tub of low-fat cottage cheese.
This will help you avoid fasting and feeling hungry in the night which can interrupt sleep and also lead to muscle breakdown.
Minimise light and noise by using earplugs, eye shades and dark curtains. Melatonin, a hormone which aids recovery and regulates our body clock is only effective in complete darkness
Shut out as much light as possible. Even the smallest amount of light on the skin reduces the hormone melatonin.
Ensure your pillow helps you maintain a straight neck. This will reduce muscular tension allowing you to relax and sleep better.
Take time to find a good mattress which helps you maintain good postural alignment.
Clean sheets always feel softer which again will help you relax.
Make sure you feel secure and safe wherever you are sleeping. It's a common problem for people to struggle to sleep in strange places. The safer you feel, the more you can relax mentally and physically.
Watch for signs of overtraining. This can lead to a severe lack of sleep and in extreme cases may result in Myalic Encephalomyelitis (ME), or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
Aim to hit the sheets between 10-10.30 at the latest every single night
Reduce electromagnetic forces from around you such as radios, televisions and mobile phones as these may interfere with your brain activity.
Go to bed and get up at the same time every day. Your weekends should not be much different otherwise you will still confuse your body.
Minimise caffeine particularly after work hours. No if's and buts - no caffeine!
Don't clock watch if you do have trouble sleeping - this will only make things worse.
If you are trying to read and keep nodding off just go with it and put your book down. Fight it and you will probably end up awake for a lot longer.
Avoid mental stimulation such as television and factual / exciting books within an hour of bed time. Create a relaxing going to bed routine such as a warm bath, listening to music or playing with your pet.
Minimise alcohol consumption and smoking. Alcohol may help you get to sleep but it will prevent you reaching deep sleep thus doing more harm than good.
If you always have to break your sleep to use the toilet, cut back on fluids three hours before bed.
Generally 7-8 hours of sleep works best but experiment for 1-2 weeks a time to find what works best for you.
Implement all of the above, and you will notice dramatic differences in the quality of your sleep.
This is the key. Whilst it is accepted that 7-8 hours is the optimal range of sleep per night, you need to pay close attention to the quality of that sleep.
In 2006, Sanjay Patel of Cleveland's Case Western University was part of the research team which studied the links between hours of sleep per night and weight gain.
Over 16 years, women who reported sleeping five hours or less per night gained about 2.3 more pounds than those who slept seven hours per night.
During the same period, women who got six hours of nightly sleep gained 1.5 more pounds than those who slept an extra hour per night.
This evidence serves to strengthen the point that losing body fat requires total lifestyle changes and won't occur to any noticeable degree simply by doing a bit more on the cross-trainer or eating a salad every day.
Now go and catch some sleep! You'll be amazed what a difference an extra hour will make!
Age-Related Changes in Slow Wave Sleep and REM Sleep and Relationship With Growth Hormone and Cortisol Levels in Healthy Men, Cauter et al, The Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol 284 No.7, 2000
American Thoracic Society International Conference, San Diego, May 19-24, 2006. WebMD Medical News: Sleep Your Way to Weight Loss - News release, American Thoracic Society.
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