Hey guys. I know it has been awhile since my last post, so I know you all are wondering what has been going with me and my training for my upcoming 5k. And I must say that my training this time around has been a little challenging. I am hanging in there and running when I can, but I have noticed that this time around I am not getting enough sleep because I am up late at night working. And not getting enough sleep is causing me major problems with my training, as well as with me losing weight. I know some of you maybe wondering why is that a big problem because most of America functions just fine off of 4 to 5 hours of sleep. And my response to that question would be that it is a major problem because one’s body (body and mind) is not fully rested at 4 to 5 hours, so one maybe functioning but not at the level they should be. So, let me try to explain why sleep is sooooooo important for someone who is trying to lost weight. Sleep helps control one’s diet, decreases craving for sugary food, affect hormones that control hungry, and gives you to energy you need to go workout or be more active.
So, let me discuss how a lack of sleep can disrupt one’s diet and weight loss goal by explaining what happen when we are sleep derived. Studies show that more than 35% of people are sleep deprived, which is identical to the statistics for obesity. When we don’t get enough sleep (7 to 8 hours per to night) we cut the amount of fat lost in half even though you may be on the same diet. Sleep deprivation will cause you to feel less satisfied after meals, and cause you to be hungry, and not have enough energy to want to be active.
When our body is sleep deprived, it suffers from “metabolic grogginess”, per the researchers at University of Chicago. They did research to find out what would happen to a person after four days of poor sleep. And they found that the body’s ability to properly use insulin becomes disrupted. And when insulin is not working well fat circulates in the blood causing more insulin to be secreted. The excess insulin in the blood stream will cause to body to storage fat in all the wrong places, and with a blind of an eye you are fat.
Sleep deprivation also makes it very difficult for your body to control two other important hormones that contribute to weight loss, leptin and ghrelin. Leptin is produced in fat cells, so the less leptin you produce, the more your stomach feels empty; and the more ghrelin the body produces the hungrier you will feel. Research shows that if we get less than 6 hours of sleep this will trigger the brain to increase the need for food while stopping the secretion of leptin and stimulating ghrelin. Also, when we don’t get enough sleep our cortisol levels rises, which causes us to gain weight and want food. So, as you can see it is a cycle that will continue to run unless we do something about it, and that is sleep.
Could it get any worst, and the answer would be yes. Because research shows that sleep deprivation decreases protein synthesis (which is our body’s ability to make muscle), which causes muscle loss and can lead to higher incidence of injuries. So, not only are we causing our selves to gain weight we are also decreasing our body’s fat fight machine-muscle. And this is happening all because we are not getting enough sleep (me included).
How do we change this, and begin to head in the right direction on the weight scale? And the answer is make sleep important too. I have started making sleep more important because it matters in life’s journey. When I go to bed at night I wear my fitbit to see exactly how much sleep I got, and you know what, when I get the recommended amount of sleep I feel more energized throughout the day. I don’t want to take soooooo many naps, and my workouts are great. I am also able to control my hungry and cravings for sugary foods. Not only have I been making sleep important, I have also been speaking over myself life. God’s word says that I am strong, I am heal, and I am healthy; so I speak that over myself everyday. I even tell myself that I have the energy of a 3 year old, and that too has been helping me because it is making me more accountable for my ups and downs. Because of God’s word I am making better decisions which will manifest what I desire.
If it is worth it you will find a way, being what God called me to be is worth it, so I am finding a way. How about you? Are you worth it? Is God’s purpose for your life worth it? Answers those questions for yourself and you too will find a way. Until next…Life Is But A Journey….
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