If you love to sleep and you want to lose weight, you’re in luck. Sleep may be the magic behind being in the best shape of your life. Consistent, high quality sleep allows you to make better decisions throughout the day (i.e. a banana over the candy bar you crave when you’re tired) and perform at your personal best at FitClub every day. Sleeping too much, too little, or not well enough, though, can lead you down a junk food covered path and make you more likely to skip your workout.
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There are easy, achievable ways you can get the most out of your slumber.
Don’t eat before bed. Remember when the threat of going to bed hungry for not finishing the dinner your parents prepared was a punishment? Now, as healthy adults we need to look at it as the key to principled, consistent sleep. Even if you’ve overeaten during the day, closing your home kitchen immediately after dinner and allowing yourself to fast while you sleep has been linked to weight loss. Adding protein and vegetables to an earlier dinner will help you make it through an eight-hour slumber without a bedtime snack.
Keep your bedroom dark. A completely dark environment causes your body to produce the hormone melatonin. Melatonin makes you feel sleepy and allows you to fall asleep faster, but it also helps your body burn calories. Close your curtains or invest in blackout curtains, turn digital clocks around, and don’t fall asleep with the television glowing for a better, more efficient sleep.
Power down electronics. For an even healthier dose of melatonin, power down your electrical devices (yes, even your phones) an hour or more before you lay down. Not only does the light from the electronics inhibit your body’s production of melatonin, the news scroll you’re reading may cause you unwanted stress that will make sleep difficult or more restless. Give yourself time to unwind from your day with an old-fashioned book, a bath, or a short meditation to put your body and mind in sleep-mode.
Be consistent. Part of a healthy lifestyle is establishing consistent, healthy habits. If you’ve been exercising regularly, you know that building a habit takes time and makes it easier for you to stay committed to your workout when it’s part of your day. The same is true for your bedtime. Weekends, holidays, and vacations count, too. Committing to a bedtime that feels right for your lifestyle will make it easier to fall asleep and wake up feeling refreshed and alert and ready to make it to a morning FitClub group exercise class.
Exercise early. Exercising too closely to your bedtime may cause you more difficulty in falling asleep as quickly as you’d like. Exercising in the morning or afternoon hours allows your body temperature to return to normal before bedtime and eliminates the stress of the day before you’re ready to unwind before bed. Bonus: Consistently making time for high quality sleep also allows you to wake up earlier and with more energy for a morning workout!
What sleep tricks do you use to complement your healthy goals?
