The Importance of Sleep for Fitness

Amelia Johnson explains why it is important to prioritize sleep if you achieve your fitness goals.

Some aspects of our lives take funny turns. Think of how much you dreaded going to bed as a child and how much you would love to get even an extra hour of sleep as an adult. It is common for almost all, if not all, adults to feel like they do not get adequate sleep. With a busy daily routine, any other adult can relate to the feeling that there are not enough hours in a day to allow them to have enough sleep.

Whether you go to school, have a full-time job, or have a busy routine each day, then enough sleep is just a luxury to you. Some people have shown the ability to cope and function well with little or no sleep, yet others are immensely affected by the lack of sleep.

Should you lack adequate sleep and its effects stealthily appear during the day, you may benefit from such drinks as tea, coffee, or energy drinks to give you a physical and mental alertness boost. However, these alternatives become ineffective in the long term, especially if you have fitness goals to achieve. So, why is sleep so crucial for fitness?

The importance of sleep

It Discourages Overeating

Lack of sleep triggers the body to produce higher ghrelin hormone levels. This is the hormone responsible for signalling that you need to eat more.

Similarly, when you have inadequate rest, your body releases minor leptin hormones. You need an increase in the production of this hormone if your brain is to receive the signal that you have had enough food.

Lack of adequate sleep results in the overproduction of the ghrelin hormone and the leptin hormone (since you are tired), which triggers overeating and encourages weight gain.

It Discourages Excessive Weight Gain

One of the disadvantages of inadequate sleep is the body's ineffective utility of insulin. Individuals with higher insulin resistance experience increased fat circulation in the bloodstream and insulin production. Nothing disrupts your use of insulin more than insufficient sleep.

The insulin produced in excess gets stored in the body in fat. Getting quality sleep means that you help your body regularize your insulin levels and discourage the formation of fat deposits in your body.

It Enhances Brain Focus

The brain fails to function normally when you lack quality sleep. This has the effect of experiencing difficulty in making informed complex decisions like determining what your diet should look like. I could compare sleep deprivation to being intoxicated with alcohol since inadequate sleep reduces mental clarity.

With inadequate and disturbed sleep, you will end up making poor dietary choices, and you might even settle for junk food that is counteractive to your fitness goals.

It Offers You Greater Workout Benefits

The reality here is that while it takes considerable effort to hit the gym, it even requires more effort to do so if you are exhausted. What could be worse than hitting the gym and being unable to complete even a single workout regime?

The Human Performance Resource Centre suggests that sleep is vital for physical performance and recovery. When you lack enough sleep, you are vulnerable to a medical complication, deterring you from gaining from your workout sessions. Sleep also leads to demotivation for physical exercise.

It Improves the Recovery Process

There has been active research on overtraining and its effects and the required frequency of working out in the past few years. However, what has not received much attention is the aspect of under-recovering. Could it be that you are just exercising in the right way but weighed down by under-recovering?

Poor sleep quality will make it hard to recover from your workout regimes through reduced growth hormone production. This hormone is essential for fat burning and anti-ageing, responsible for recovery. Thus, adopting effective sleep habits implies improved exercise recovery and fitness.

The Secret to Better Sleep

Drinking Fruit Infused Water

Research on the effects of water intake on physiological sensations and mood shows that drinking more water is beneficial to sleep quality. In contrast, reducing water intake harms mood, including reduced calmness, resulting in sleep disturbance.

Therefore, a fruit infuser water bottle will encourage you to drink even more water for better sleep and mood. Slice up some vegetables, fruits, or herbs, and put them in the bottle to infuse their nutrients and vitamins into your drinking water.

Drink infused water every time you go to bed. Consider infusing your drinking water with dark cherries that work well as a natural aid to sleep in addition to their pleasant flavour. You may add mint, which improves your sleep quality and soothes it.

Taking Raw Honey Before Bedtime

Royal Pharmaceutical Society's McInnes opines that raw honey eaten at bedtime enhances the sleep quality without triggering weight gain. Basing his argument on the Society's past research, he concludes that honey is vital for improved restorative sleep.

Raw honey improves sleep by:

Keeping the liver full during sleep. When you eat raw honey before sleeping, you restock the glycogen levels in the liver. This ensures that your brain does not trigger a fuel crisis that prompts you to wake up.
Triggering the production of the sleep hormone. Honey raises your insulin levels considerably, which begins the production of tryptophan. In turn, tryptophan gets converted into serotonin, which further gets converted into melatonin, which improves restorative sleep.

It is important to prioritize sleep if you achieve your fitness goals, as there is a strong link between fitness and sleep. Achieve your fitness goals by adhering to the above guide to quality sleep.

Page Reference

If you quote information from this page in your work, then the reference for this page is:

JOHNSON, A. (2017) The Importance of Sleep for Fitness [WWW] Available from: https://www.brianmac.co.uk/articles/article266.htm [Accessed

About the Author

Amelia Johnson is a writer/editor with an endless passion for bringing valuable and trustworthy information to the community. She founded stayhealthyways.com, a blog dedicated to sharing quality articles related to health, nutrition, fitness, and beauty. As a typical introvert, Amelia is a perfectionist in work. At times of leisure, she reads, listens to music, chats with some close friends, and walks with her pet.


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Some aspects of our lives take funny turns. Think of how much you dreaded going to bed as a child and how much you would love to get even an extra hour of sleep as an adult. It is common for almost all, if not all, adults to feel like they do not get adequate sleep. With a busy daily routine, any other adult can relate to the feeling that there are not enough hours in a day to allow them to have enough sleep. Whether you go to school, have a full-time job, or have a busy routine each day, then enough sleep is just a luxury to you. Some people have shown the ability to cope and function well with little or no sleep, yet others are immensely affected by the lack of sleep. Should you lack adequate sleep and its effects stealthily appear during the day, you may benefit from such drinks as tea, coffee, or energy drinks to give you a physical and mental alertness boost. However, these alternatives become ineffective in the long term, especially if you have fitness goals to achieve. So, why is sleep so crucial for fitness? The importance of sleep It Discourages Overeating Lack of sleep triggers the body to produce higher ghrelin hormone levels. This is the hormone responsible for signalling that you need to eat more. Similarly, when you have inadequate rest, your body releases minor leptin hormones. You need an increase in the production of this hormone if your brain is to receive the signal that you have had enough food. Lack of adequate sleep results in the overproduction of the ghrelin hormone and the leptin hormone (since you are tired), which triggers overeating and encourages weight gain. It Discourages Excessive Weight Gain One of the disadvantages of inadequate sleep is the body's ineffective utility of insulin. Individuals with higher insulin resistance experience increased fat circulation in the bloodstream and insulin production. Nothing disrupts your use of insulin more than insufficient sleep. The insulin produced in excess gets stored in the body in fat. Getting quality sleep means that you help your body regularize your insulin levels and discourage the formation of fat deposits in your body. It Enhances Brain Focus The brain fails to function normally when you lack quality sleep. This has the effect of experiencing difficulty in making informed complex decisions like determining what your diet should look like. I could compare sleep deprivation to being intoxicated with alcohol since inadequate sleep reduces mental clarity. With inadequate and disturbed sleep, you will end up making poor dietary choices, and you might even settle for junk food that is counteractive to your fitness goals. It Offers You Greater Workout Benefits The reality here is that while it takes considerable effort to hit the gym, it even requires more effort to do so if you are exhausted. What could be worse than hitting the gym and being unable to complete even a single workout regime? The Human Performance Resource Centre suggests that sleep is vital for physical performance and recovery. When you lack enough sleep, you are vulnerable to a medical complication, deterring you from gaining from your workout sessions. Sleep also leads to demotivation for physical exercise. It Improves the Recovery Process There has been active research on overtraining and its effects and the required frequency of working out in the past few years. However, what has not received much attention is the aspect of under-recovering. Could it be that you are just exercising in the right way but weighed down by under-recovering? Poor sleep quality will make it hard to recover from your workout regimes through reduced growth hormone production. This hormone is essential for fat burning and anti-ageing, responsible for recovery. Thus, adopting effective sleep habits implies improved exercise recovery and fitness. The Secret to Better Sleep Drinking Fruit Infused Water Research on the effects of water intake on physiological sensations and mood shows that drinking more water is beneficial to sleep quality. In contrast, reducing water intake harms mood, including reduced calmness, resulting in sleep disturbance. Therefore, a fruit infuser water bottle will encourage you to drink even more water for better sleep and mood. Slice up some vegetables, fruits, or herbs, and put them in the bottle to infuse their nutrients and vitamins into your drinking water. Drink infused water every time you go to bed. Consider infusing your drinking water with dark cherries that work well as a natural aid to sleep in addition to their pleasant flavour. You may add mint, which improves your sleep quality and soothes it. Taking Raw Honey Before Bedtime Royal Pharmaceutical Society's McInnes opines that raw honey eaten at bedtime enhances the sleep quality without triggering weight gain. Basing his argument on the Society's past research, he concludes that honey is vital for improved restorative sleep. Raw honey improves sleep by: Keeping the liver full during sleep. When you eat raw honey before sleeping, you restock the glycogen levels in the liver. This ensures that your brain does not trigger a fuel crisis that prompts you to wake up. Triggering the production of the sleep hormone. Honey raises your insulin levels considerably, which begins the production of tryptophan. In turn, tryptophan gets converted into serotonin, which further gets converted into melatonin, which improves restorative sleep. It is important to prioritize sleep if you achieve your fitness goals, as there is a strong link between fitness and sleep. Achieve your fitness goals by adhering to the above guide to quality sleep. Page Reference If you quote information from this page in your work, then the reference for this page is: JOHNSON, A. (2017) The Importance of Sleep for Fitness [WWW] Available from: https://www.brianmac.co.uk/articles/article266.htm [Accessed About the Author Amelia Johnson is a writer/editor with an endless passion for bringing valuable and trustworthy information to the community. She founded stayhealthyways.com, a blog dedicated to sharing quality articles related to health, nutrition, fitness, and beauty. As a typical introvert, Amelia is a perfectionist in work. At times of leisure, she reads, listens to music, chats with some close friends, and walks with her pet.