“SLEEP” Your Latent Superpower!
We have all heard how important sleep is, but few of us really prioritize it. In this article I aim to shine a spotlight on why you need to make sleep a top priority in 2023.
The number one thing I hear when people first join the gym is that they want to slim down or tone up, but unbeknownst to them what they really want to do is build muscle.
So let’s take a look at how sleep affects our most important tissue for movement, immune function, blood sugar, and everyone’s favorite weight loss.
Sleep is an essential part of building muscle. When you sleep, your body is able to repair and regenerate itself, which is essential for muscle growth and development.
During sleep, your body releases growth hormone, which helps to build and repair muscle tissue. Additionally, sleep helps to regulate the levels of other hormones in your body that are important for muscle growth, such as testosterone and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1).
When we don’t get enough sleep we negatively impact on your ability to build muscle. If you don’t get enough sleep, your body will not produce enough growth hormone, which leads to decreased muscle mass. Additionally, not getting enough sleep can lead to an increase in the levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which breaks down muscle tissue.
Getting enough sleep is also important for maintaining a healthy immune system, which is essential for muscle growth and development. When your immune system is strong, your body is better able to fight off infections and illnesses, which can interfere with your ability to exercise and build muscle. Many people who got very sick from COVID had more fat than muscle mass, making them unable to fight off the virus.
Sleep not only builds muscle mass it is also an essential for burning fat. When you sleep, your body is able to repair and regenerate itself, which is essential for maintaining a healthy metabolism.
During sleep, your body releases hormones that help to regulate your appetite and metabolism. For example, the hormone leptin is released during sleep and helps to suppress your appetite, while ghrelin is released when you are awake and stimulates your appetite.
If you don’t get enough sleep, your body produces too much ghrelin and not enough leptin, which leads to an increase in appetite and cravings for unhealthy foods. This makes it more difficult to maintain a healthy diet and can lead to weight gain.
Additionally, because not getting enough sleep leads to increased levels of the stress hormone cortisol, our ability to burn fat is downgraded. Cortisol breaks down muscle tissue and causes the body to store more fat, particularly in the abdominal area.
As I hinted at before, getting enough sleep is also very important for maintaining a healthy immune system, which in turn is also essential for burning fat.
When your immune system is strong, your body is better able to fight off infections and illnesses, which can interfere with your ability to exercise and burn fat.By getting enough sleep, you can ensure that your body has the rest and repair it needs to support a healthy metabolism and maintain a healthy weight.
But sleep goes beyond our physical health, it is also essential for mental health.
When you sleep, your brain is able to repair and regenerate itself, which is essential for maintaining cognitive function and emotional well-being.
During sleep, your brain goes through different stages of activity, including rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and non-REM sleep. These stages are important for consolidating memories, regulating emotions, and supporting learning and creativity.
Not getting enough sleep can have a huge impact on your mental health. If you don’t get enough sleep, your brain may not go through all the necessary stages of activity, which can lead to problems with memory, concentration, and mood.
Insufficient sleep has been linked to a number of mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder. It can also worsen the symptoms of existing mental health conditions and make it more difficult to manage these conditions.
Additionally, we know from above that not getting enough sleep can have a negative impact on your physical health, which can also affect your mental health. For example, chronic sleep deprivation has been linked to an increased risk of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes, which can have a negative impact on your mental well-being.
Overall, sleep is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle and is important for maintaining good mental and physical health. By getting enough sleep, we can ensure that our brain has the rest and repair it needs to support cognitive function and emotional well-being.
So what is good sleep and how do we prioritize it in 2023. Sleep needs can vary from person to person, but in general, experts recommend that healthy adults get an average of 7 to 9 hours per night to maintain good health.
I know this first hand because when I was a firefighter and regularly got 4–6 hours of sleep at work, I began to develop adrenal issues, blood sugar disregulation, and even depression. This is what actually led me to leave the fire department.
There are many ways to improve your sleep and ensure that you get the rest and repair your body and brain need, but the general consensus is that these 5 are the most impactful.
1 Establish a consistent sleep schedule — try to go to bed and wake up at the same time each day, even on weekends. This can help to regulate your body’s internal clock and make it easier to fall asleep and stay asleep.
2 Create a relaxing bedtime routine — develop a routine that helps you unwind and relax before bedtime. This could include activities such as reading, listening to calming music, or taking a warm bath.
3 Make your sleep environment conducive to sleep — your bedroom should be dark, cool, and quiet. Consider using blackout curtains or an eye mask to block out light, and earplugs or a white noise machine to block out noise.
4 Avoid caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine — these substances can interfere with your ability to fall asleep and stay asleep. Avoid consuming them in the hours leading up to bedtime.
5 Avoid screens before bedtime — the blue light emitted by screens can interfere with your body’s production of melatonin, a hormone that helps regulate your sleep-wake cycle. Avoid using screens for at least an hour before bedtime.
By following these tips, you can improve your sleep and ensure that you get the rest and repair your body and brain need, helping you feel stronger, healthier, and more energized during the day.
I personally use an oura ring ( use this referral link for 50$ off) to track my sleep. By tracking your sleep you can get a much better idea of how much sleep you are ACTUALLY getting. Believe it or not we only sleep 80 to 85% of the time we spend in bed, so if you are only in bed for 8 hours you may actually be getting less than 7 hours.
As you can see from this image I screenshotted from my oura ring, even though I was in bed for 8 hours, I only got 6.5 hours of actual sleep. So for me to get 7+ hours I need to be in bed for 9 hours.
Along with getting to bed 9 hours before I wake up I also supplement with 400mg of magnesium. Older adults are more likely to be magnesium deficient than younger adults, according to research published in 2021 in the journal Nutrients. The reasons include eating fewer foods high in magnesium, impaired magnesium absorption, and peeing more of it out. So it makes sense that magnesium supplementation might help older adults sleep better if they’re already low in the mineral.
To learn more about the role of sleep and how I use it with my clients, check out my 8 week muscle building course “The All In Challenge”, where we combine training the mind, body, and spirit to reach new levels of health, happiness, and freedom.
