Sleep - How does it connect to Health and Fitness

Since you were a child, you always heard, "you need your sleep." It helps your brain grow, recharges your body, etc. But as we get older, and more responsibilities creep in, the duration of sleep you need starts to become less and less. And while we may keep on trucking away, the truth of the matter is, we are not really helping our bodies out. especially if you're trying to lose weight or become more healthy and fit.

You might be asking yourself, how does sleep relate to becoming healthy and fit? There are many different reasons, so I will only touch on a few here. 

First, the most obvious. Your body needs to recover. If you are on your feet all day at your job, or have a rigorous exercise routine, your body needs that down time to recharge and rebuild itself. The recommend amount of sleep each night is 7-8 hours. You body also uses this time to rebuild your muscles. This is a good time to slip in a little extra protein before dozing off, your body has that much more to build with.

The more sleep you receive, the less stress you will have. Stress can affect your cardiovascular health, increasing blood pressure and even effect cholesterol levels. This can also slow down your weight loss goals. Nobody wants that. Studies have also shown that when you don't receive enough sleep, your more likely to increase your calorie intake. This is due to the body shifting different hormones that stimulate or suppress appetite. 

Lack of sleep can also lead to depression, irritability, anxiety, and emotional instability. Think about times when you are grumpy in the morning, or your are irritated at work. Is it really because you had to wake up or go to work, or was it because you didn't get enough sleep?

And of course, with less sleep, you are more likely to skip your workout in the morning or hit the snooze button a couple of extra times, therefore, not progressing towards your health and fitness goals, making your journey that much harder.