Title: Sleeping your way to weight loss?
Tags: weight loss sleep training
Blog Entry: I find that the older I get the less sleep I seem to need. I can get by easily on seven hours now. Back even a few years ago less than eight and I was in trouble. Though we sleep less as we age, the paradox is that sleep becomes more important to us as athletes as we get older. It is the time our body recovers and repairs from our training. Sleep less and you recover less. Recent studies have also connected lack of sleep to acceleration of the aging process. Sleep too little and you could be old before your time. Since most of us want to stay active, healthy and able for as many years as possible, sleep is a pivotal part of that. Also as we age, it seems like weight is easier to put on and harder to get off. Given our healthy and active lifestyles, that may not be something that affects us as much as our inactive peers. But here is something interesting. Researchers have now connected a lack of sleep to snacking. In other words, the more sleep deprived you are, the more you will snack, taking in more calories over the course of the day. Apparently, the brain, when it senses fatigue and a lack of sleep, sends signals to the body to snack, as the brain is looking for ways to help the body have a higher level of energy. It also seems that you will tend to crave higher sugar, higher calorie or higher fat items. The brain is looking for an energy fix for the body and it knows where to find it. So you snack. And yawn, and snack some more, until the end of the day comes, you may feel a little bloated and your cupboards are empty. Where did it all go? Into your body to help you stay awake. And into storage in fat, because you took in more calories than you burned. Be a chronically sleep-deprived person and imagine what that will do to your waistline. Too often when I ask my athletes about sleep and they tell me they stay up very late. "Doing what?" I ask, not trying to get personal. But most of the time they do a lot of nothing: TV or just kind of hanging out. I tell them they will be better served to get themselves on a regular sleep schedule and retire at an hour that allows for enough sleep. The body is a machine that works best with routine, from when you eat to when you sleep and how long. So try to set a similar bedtime each night, waking at roughly the same time each day. Seven to eight hours is great if you can do it. You'll find your training goes better, you recovery better and you'll eat reasonably over the course of the day. Sleeping well is as important as the time you spend training in your sport, so spend some time horizontal.
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