This underrated tool is something everyone can do,
It doesn’t cost anything,
It reduces your appetite,
It improves your mood,
It Improves your quality of life,
Your health,
Your recovery,
Your brain function,
It helps build muscle tissue,
It fortifies your immune system,
And It reduces the risk of Alzheimers, many other diseases and prolongs your life,
What is this magical thing?
Sleep.
Sleep is the answer to all the above and many more but no one utilizes it’s abilities or tries to improve their sleep, why?
Because it’s not sexy or a quick fix, the two MAIN selling point to any pill, diet or fad.
I'm going to tell you about a study first to show its importance and capture your attention before you think of disregarding this information.
One study took a group of people and split them into two groups.
One group which we will call group A were given 1500 calories and 8 hours sleep,
The other group, group B were given 1500 calories and 4.5 hours of sleep.
The results?
Group A lost 80-90% body fat 10-20% muscle and lean tissue.
Group B, on the other hand, lost 80% muscle and lean tissue and only 20% fat.
No pill, supplement or fad diet can help prevent this from happening so stop seeing them as the answer to your problems.
Even if you had an amazing nutrient-dense diet with good training you wouldn’t be able to prevent the effects a lack of sleep brings your body.
The main reason most diets don't work is that they're unsustainable, part of that reason being you’re always feeling hungry and lethargic on them. There's only so much hunger and feeling lethargic you can tolerate.
Simply by getting more sleep, you will reduce your hunger and cravings.
We have two main hormones in our body that control appetite, Leptin andGhrelin.
Leptin is a hormone that signals our brain that we are full and no longer need to seek out food.
Ghrelin is a hormone that signals to our brain that we are hungry and need to seek food.
When you fail to get 7-8 hours of sleep your Leptin levels drop and your Ghrelin levels rise causing you to feel hungry and to search for food and consume it.
This makes a lot of sense because a lack of sleep leads to a lack of energy, food provides us with energy therefor our bodies signal to seek out food to prevent tiredness.
Living in a culture where food is omnipresent (large quantities) and easy to access results in us eating more food than our bodies need causing us to gain weight.
In our westernized culture where sleep deprivation is common due to work, stress, electronic devices and a society that often prides itself on not sleeping much you can see why 67% of the UK are overweight.
This, by all means, isn’t the only or root cause of being overweight but I can’t stress how much it does contribute to people not seeing results in fat loss.
If you suffer from sleep deprivation (which can be classed as less than 7 hours sleep) then this needs to be addressed first.
Stop asking: "What's the best supplement is?", 'What's the best food is for post-workout?", "How many meals should I eat a day?", "How many carbs should I eat?".
All those questions should be way down the list in priorities compared to your sleep so this is an area you need to focus on first.
I want to help you achieve your fat loss goals which means helping you to improve your sleep so here at my top 10 tips to get started to improve your sleep.
Number 1 is the most important one as It helps improve your sleep quality the greatest so start there first.
Establish a sleep routine and stick to it. Our bodies run on a circadian rhythm so by ensuring you go to bed and wake up the same time each night will ensure the best sleep routine.
Reduce the use of blue light electronics before bed. Decrease in 15-minute blocks over time.
Be active for 20 minutes a day but not close to bedtime.
Increase your vitamin D exposure, you can link this with number 3 by going on a walk.
Avoid caffeine past 2 o’clock as it stays in your system for at least 8 hours.
Avoid large meals before bed.
Avoid medicine before bed (if possible).
Relax or take a hot bath before bed.
Have a dark, cool, gadget-free bedroom. (our bodies core temperature need to reduce to initiate that sleepiness feeling, hot baths do this due to cooling down after).
Don't stay in bed if you can’t sleep, leave the room and read a book for 20 minutes before returning.
Now I know most people reading this probably aren’t going to take action on but if you do you will improve your health greatly, you’ll feel a lot more energized, less hungry and you'll be less of pain in the ass to be around.
Let’s face it hanging out with people who aren’t sleep deprived are generally happier and more fun to be around.
You may be sat there thinking now “I’m not sleep deprived and I only sleep 5-6 hours a night and I’m fine”. Wait until you see how you feel after 7-8 and for a couple of weeks.
We can become very adapted to how we feel (not a good thing). People often believe they feel fit and healthy until they address their nutrition and training, then they realize how crap they felt before.
I educate all my clients in more than just training, I help to educate on nutrition, nutrients, sleep, stress, and everything elsewhere and when I can.
Being healthy and achieving fat loss is more than just training and counting calories all of these other elements come into play and determine your success too.
If you want help and advice in all of these areas then why not come along to a free week of coaching with me. For an entire week, you will be trained and educated on how to achieve your goals and improve your health and fitness.
Again most people aren't going to take this amazing opportunity but if you do you will never look back and you’ll greatly benefit from it just like everyone else has who’s come along to date.
Not everyone has stayed on to continue training with me and you don’t have to either but everyone has loved it and learned so much in that one week to improve themselves. And those that have stayed on have gone on to achieve incredible things.
If you want to take the next step in improving your health then Click Here to book in your free week and I will look forward to meeting you and educating you on how to achieve your goals.
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Thank you for reading,
Louis
