The Sunday Mail
The relationship between sleep and exercise is important but few people realise how effective it can be in allowing the body to adapt to the positive changes of exercise and healthy eating. If you want to gain muscle, lose fat, or maximise your athletic performance you cannot be sleep deprived. I struggle every now and then to get enough sleep. Life seems to be moving increasingly faster and there are more demands on my time: exercise, work, family, friends, whatsapp, television and study.
The average person sleeps an hour less each night than they should and it’s not because we need less sleep, the pressure to live a better life takes over. If you are serious about losing fat or building a better-looking body, then you must get enough sleep.
I have found many people who dispute this fact because they are firm believers in diets only. Well there is always a trick or two you won’t know. Body fat loss depends on hormonal changes and manipulations, sleep is very important in regulating hormones. Losing out on sleep makes you burn off fewer calories.
Lack of sleep makes you burn muscle instead of fat. If you are dieting while sleep deprived, you will burn twice as much muscle and only half as much fat. I have a number of personal examples of people who believed their weight loss was fat being burned only to realise it was muscle they lost.
The growth hormone responsible for your physique changes works best during your sleep. Now I know that most of you say you get enough sleep but most of you are just fooling yourself.
I have a very simple definition of sleep deprivation; if an alarm clock wakes you up, you are sleep deprived! Period; you have been awakened before your body was fully rested.
All the time I hear people say “I don’t need a lot of sleep, I can wake up after just a few hours.” Please do yourself a favour and just rest.
Over-sleeping isn’t good either, you feel tired when you get up, you look drained. If you find yourself only needing 5 hours sleep it’s probably because of stress, anxiety or too much caffeine consumption. Aim to sleep 8 hours as recommended by health professionals.
Here are great reasons to get enough sleep:
1. Makes you leaner; makes you lose fat rather than muscle.
2. Helps you gain muscle and quickens muscle recovery.
3. Improves athletic ability, the body is repaired and restores your energy levels.
4. Flushes out toxins and restores the body.
5. Sleep helps you break down fat.
6. Helps you de-stress, you feel revived.
Get enough sleep and improve your sleep quality:
1. Reduce the number of caffeinated beverages: coke, coffee, tea, red bull, you take per day, even morning drinks can interfere with your sleep. Caffeine stays in your system for a long time.
2. I recommend you go to bed early, even if you are “busy”. Remember, sleep has to be a priority. Stick to a regular sleeping schedule even on weekends, sleep is the best supplement to exercise it sets creates a conducive environment for the body to flush toxins.
3. Wake up naturally, for most people that will be 4-6am.Reduce the dependency on alarms and family waking you up.
4. Chronic sleep loss can contribute to health problems like weight gain and high blood pressure, you can never regain lost sleep time, and so sleeping restfully is mandatory.
I realise that many people fail to fall asleep or are under pressure with work; the use of sleeping tablets or energy syrups to stay awake longer is detrimental to your general health and can have dire consequences as we age.
I have to admit that I have experienced higher quality sleep going to bed earlier. Take advantage of power naps, they are not just for wimps.
Professional athletes take them regularly in the course of a day so there is something to be said for them. Twenty-minute naps in the middle of the day are said to be the equivalent of a 2-hour sleep. Naps are extremely beneficial if you did not sleep the night before.
Remember that sleep is a powerful tool that transforms your body and costs you nothing.
Exercise Plan
Walking is an awesome exercise that is low cost, low impact. It is a more feasible form of exercise, anybody can do it and yes you can burn fat.
Monday to Saturday: This week we want to modify your walking technique and up the ante to maximise on fat burning. Speed walking 4km (walking faster than usual and slightly out of breath) with knee lifts to the chest after every 10 minutes, much of your walking speed is generated from your arms. Engage your core and breath with rhythm.
Sunday: Rest
Tatenda Musonza is a personal trainer and runs a body makeover course, he can be reached on: [email protected]
