Recent research has shown that getting the right amount of sleep is vital to retaining lean muscle mass and losing fat. The study initially restricted participants sleep to only 5.5 hours and subsequently allowed participants to sleep for 8.5 hours per night. It found that when participants were only getting 5.5 hours sleep per night, they lost less body fat and more lean body mass than when they slept for 8.5 hours. Participants with restricted sleep also reported feeling hungrier and more likely to snack.
When your body suffers from sleep deprivation, fat cells experience something known as “metabolic grogginess”. This usually occurs within 4 days of sleep deprivation, as your body’s ability to produce insulin is disrupted. Insulin helps fat cells by removing fatty acids and lipids from the body. When this process is affected, insulin stores fat in places that it shouldn’t, such as your liver.
Sleep deprivation also increases the levels of the ghrelin hormone in the stomach. This is the hormone which regulates appetite and hunger pangs, while the hormone leptin suppresses it. As ghrelin increases, leptin decreases which lead to cravings for high-calorie foods.
So, within 4 nights of not getting enough sleep, your body will start to show signs of sleep deprivation and you will start to eat an unhealthier diet while losing lean body mass and gaining weight. This means that getting the right amount of sleep is vital for anyone who wants to maintain an effective exercise regime and diet.
One of the best ways to regulate the amount of sleep you get each night is by measuring it. Once you know the quality and duration of your sleep each night, you can effectively monitor it and make adjustments to improve it. Using sleep monitoring technology will allow you to understand your sleep trends, along with your heart and respiratory rates, so that you can keep an eye on the quality of your sleep and ensure that your body is getting the rest it needs.
If you would like to find out more about how REM-Fit Sleep Monitoring technology can help you to get a better night’s rest, please get in touch with our experienced, knowledgeable staff by calling 020 8731 0020 or email us via sales@rem-fit.co.uk.
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