We have all been there. Sitting in your car at the parking lot of the gym, trying to muster up all your energy to go and do a killer back workout. Your body feels sore, the coffee you just chugged had no effect, and your yawns are becoming increasingly frequent. You are now faced with a dilemma; stick it out and do a subpar workout, or cut your losses and go home.
We all hate being tired at the gym. Your workouts never feel right, and trying to hit the same numbers as last week seems like an impossible uphill battle. What is the solution you ask? The answer is simply to sleep more. The more sleep you can provide your body, the faster your daily workout recovery time will be. This plays a huge factor in improving your body’s overall health and motivation to continue pursuing workouts.
3 Ways Sleep Can Improve Your Health and Motivation
Sleeping, and more importantly getting enough sleep, is vital for maintaining your body at 100% efficiency. While you sleep, your body produces its own growth hormones and increases the amount of blood flow to your muscles. In very simple terms, this biological combination allows for your muscles to start getting replenished with nutrients it needs to build back stronger. In fact, a lot of muscle rebuilding only happens while you sleep. To learn more about how sleep builds muscles, check out this informative article!
Lack of Sleep Can Lead To Weight Gain
On average, a person should be aiming to get 7.5 hours of sleep a day to maintain healthy bodily functions. These bodily functions also include your metabolism. When a person is chronically getting 5 or less hours of sleep, their metabolism starts to slow down because the body is in a constant state of exhaustion. Your metabolism is essential in breaking down and digesting your food. When it is in a slower state, the food you consume does not get broken down efficiently.
It may come as no surprise, but your body produces different hormones while it sleeps. Two important hormones that translate directly to your eating patterns are Ghrelin and Leptin. These two hormones control how your body responds to eating habits. When you get enough sleep your body produces the correct amounts of these hormones, which makes it easier for you to control and maintain a suitable diet for your lifestyle. An article by WebMD breaks this down very well.
Insufficient Sleep Can Lead to Lower Motivation
Do you ever realize how much you yawn during the day after a long night out? Your yawning is a sure sign of how tired you are and how your body is preparing for sleep. When the body is in a state of sleepiness, you will find that your motivation to do tasks is severely limited. Your body is a wonderful machine that knows what it needs to do in order to maintain itself. So when you have a short night of sleep, your body understands that it needs to get more sleep in order to perform at its best.
This causes your body to be in a constant state of preparing to sleep. This preparation process lowers your drive to perform tasks, and exert energy. Everything in your body is pointing for you to take a nap, and no matter how hard you try to shake the feeling off, the lethargy and drained feelings remain. By getting enough sleep at night, your body will not be preparing itself to sleep during the day, and your energy levels will be at its norm.
Sleep Builds Up Your Immune System
You may not think about this, but your immune system gets built up and maintained by your body as you sleep. Just like how your body produces hormones to control and maintain your diet as you sleep; your body does the same with antibodies. As you sleep your body produces antibodies and Cytokines. These products are what helps your body fight off foreign objects. When you bar yourself from getting enough sleep you are setting your body up to be at a weaker state. You will be much more susceptible to illness simply because you have not had enough quality rest.
Sleeping Is More Essential Than You Think
Your body needs sleep in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle. People often overlook sleep when starting a new workout routine. Concentration always goes on exercise intensity and diets; both of which are important, but they are missing the last piece. Without a healthy sleep schedule, you will not only lose out on performance increases but also make your body weaker. So tonight, when you are deciding whether to watch another episode of Community or go to bed, do me a favor and go get the sleep that your body deserves.
Have Additional Information About Sleep and Health?
Leave a comment below on your thoughts regarding how proper rest affects your body!
Also if you need some help relaxing, why don’t you check out our article on some great online yoga classes?
Don’t forget that in addition to a night of good quality sleep, your body needs nutrients to build itself stronger. Check out our article on Protein and the great health benefits that come with it!
Great Health Benefits from Protein
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