Fitness enthusiasts are being warned of the impact that insufficient sleep can have on their gym progress.
Sleep experts at WinstonsBeds.com have highlighted five ways in which sleep deprivation can negatively impact fitness routines.
While it’s widely known that sleep is essential for overall health and wellbeing, it’s crucial to recognise how a lack of sleep can specifically hinder your fitness goals.
Insufficient sleep can slow down recovery time by preventing the body from fully healing and repairing itself, meaning slower gains!
Sleep helps to regulate hormones, boost cognitive function, and support long term health, which are all essential for gym goers looking to make progress.
A lack of sleep can also interrupt mental clarity, making it harder to push yourself, stay focused, and apply ‘mind over matter’ techniques to reach your fitness goals.
Rebecca Swain, expert at WinstonsBeds said: “A good night’s sleep is part of a healthy daily routine, so the more you prioritise sleep, the easier it becomes to stay on track with other key areas that support gym progress, such as nutrition and discipline.
“Regular exercise increases your body’s need for sleep, so neglecting to make time for a solid night’s rest can lead to increased fatigue.
“Whilst we sleep our bodies are busy at work balancing hormones, reducing stress levels and repairing damaged tissue.”
5 ways sleep improves gym performance:
- Hormone balance
During sleep, two key anabolic hormones, testosterone and growth hormone, are released. Testosterone plays a crucial role in muscle repair after exercise by promoting muscle protein synthesis and muscle growth. Growth hormone, supports muscle repair, bone health, and metabolism. Both hormones are connected with decreased body fat and increased muscle mass, highlighting their importance for overall physical health and recovery from the gym.
- Cognitive function
Sleep improves cognitive function by facilitating repair and recovery, allowing the brain to generate new cells, rid toxins and strengthen neural networks. This process helps you wake up feeling refreshed whilst improving attention span and reaction times, contributing to increased mental clarity, improving motivation, and focus for your gym performance.
- Reduce stress
Lack of sleep can raise cortisol levels, cortisol is the stress hormone responsible for the body’s fight or flight response. When we feel threatened, cortisol is released, leading to heightened stress. Regulating your nervous system and getting enough sleep can help lower stress and anxiety, allowing you to train with greater intensity and focus.
- Muscle repair and recovery
Sleep aids the repair and rebuilding of damaged tissue. During exercise, small tears occur in muscle tissue, and as you sleep, the body releases growth hormone to promote tissue repair and muscle growth. This process helps muscles recover, become stronger, and increase in mass over time.
While you sleep, your body also metabolises carbohydrates into glycogen, which is stored in your muscles. This glycogen helps fuel your muscles, supporting muscle growth and enhancing performance.
- Long term health
Sleep is essential for overall health, which directly impacts gym performance. Getting enough rest can help reduce the risk of medical issues like high blood pressure, diabetes, and weakened immune function. This is because sleep deprivation can create inflammation, hormonal imbalances, and a compromised immune system, all of which contribute to these health problems. Health conditions like these can make you fatigued, dizzy, and may interfere with your nutrition, which is crucial for achieving fitness goals, whether it be performance or aesthetic.
