Sleep, might be the reason you're not losing weight.

So you are busy, I get that. On top of work, overtime, school, taking care of the kids, getting your workout in, maybe you actually want to have a life, go on a date, hang with friends, or just have some time to yourself. There's just not enough hours in the day. Well we can discuss the top of prioritization later, right now I want to stress the importance of sleep, which because of the above mention none of us are getting enough.

It's amazing what your body does while you are sleeping. First it gets to rest. All the extra energy burning  processes we do during the day like thinking, digesting, moving all slow down to a minimum at night. This frees up the body to do maintenance work, repair damaged cells, rebuild muscles, increase immune support, log our memories for the day (called memory consolidation), and more. If you are skipping out on sleep, then your body doesn't get to reset for the next day, which leads to a continual running down without the building back up. Not good. This can actually cause weight gain, increase in blood pressure, mood instability, hormone imbalances, increase in acute and chronic illness, and more. 

We actually acquire what is called sleep debt. Which means every hour you lose goes into a bank, but you can't just pay it off all in one weekend. It takes consistent payments for a healthy financial plan, of course just like those payments on a credit card, if it's an extra large bill this month a bonus payment here and there can help. 

So how much sleep should you get? The rule of thumb is 8 hours, but if I say it once, I'll say it a 100 times, listen to your body! Some people may feel recharged after 6 or 7 hours, some maybe not until after 10 hours. Your body may be trying to pay off some sleep debt. Set a reasonable bedtime that will give you 8 hours, do not use snooze on your alarm clock, and eventually try not to use an alarm clock at all. Never do less than 6 hours and make sure that it is restful uninterrupted sleep. 

In conclusion, don't take sleep for granted. I hope you see how important and vital a component it is to reach those health and fitness goals. If you find yourself in a fitness plateau, check your sleep. You could be eating right and killing your workouts, but still running down your body leading to storing of fats/carbs. This weekend might be a good time to get in some extra sleep. 

Happy Zzzz's everyone!