The importance of Sleep.

You would have realized the importance of sleep, if you’ve ever had a bad night’s rest. You may feel unfocused, weak, in a bad mood and with huge cravings for sugar and salty snacks. But, still we underestimate the tremendous effects of sleep & disregard the 100’s of processes in our physiology that require that restorative ‘shut-eye’.

We live in a culture that brags about having little sleep- as if its a good thing, saying things like, “I can still sleep when I’m dead”.  However, sleep should be a priority- never something to sacrifice for “productivity”. Let’s face it: it’s impossible to live with vitality if we’re deprived of sleep. There are more than 130 processes in our body which depend on a proper production of melatonin, which is known as the “sleep hormone”.  Fat loss, brain power and Anti-Aging are just three of those processes. 

Just to illustrate the effects of restorative sleep and the consequences of bad sleep I want to illustrate two examples:

• After one night of bad sleep, even healthy individuals are so affected that they are pre-diabetic for some time due to the reduced insulin sensitivity.
• In a scientific study there were two groups of people with the same nutrition and training schedule. Only the amount of sleep was different. While one group got 8 hours of sleep every night, the other group was sleep deprived. At the end, the group with good sleep had 50% more fat loss than the other group. The only difference was the amount of sleep!

There is a great book „Sleep smarter“ from Shawn Stevenson which discusses great scientific based hacks for a better night sleep.

The best 7 hacks for a great night sleep you find here:

• Sleep Tip #1: Caffeine free Zone.
• Sleep Tip #2: Socialize instead of Device.
• Sleep Tip #3: Sleep Early.
• Sleep Tip #4: Cool Down.
• Sleep Tip #5: Black Out.
• Sleep Tip #6: Get Up Early.
• Sleep Tip #7: Morning Workout.

Reading & Video Tip:

• Book: Shawn Stevenson (2015): 21 Essential Strategies to Sleep Your Way to A Better Body, Better Health, and Bigger Success. Rodale Books. ISBN-10: 1623367395
• Video: Why Sleep is More Important Than Diet | Shawn Stevenson on Health Theory

Inspiration:

• Relaxing Deep Sleep Music, Delta Waves