To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

To sleep, perchance to dream… This morning, one of my clients listed her health priorities in this order: 1)Sleep, 2) Food, 3) Exercise. Now, as a fitness professional, I could have corrected her and suggested that she put EXERCISE at the top of her list, but her priority list actually gave me pause. I “binged” sleep clinics in Seattle, and found no less than 20 listed there, so I guess sleep is important to a lot of people—or should I say the lack of sleep is problematic for many people. Here are a few benefits of restful sleep:
• Sleep helps to repair your body;
• Sleep helps keep your heart healthy;
• Sleep reduces stress;
• Sleep improves your memory;
• Sleeping properly can help you to control your body weight.
So without proper sleep, your body does not repair itself from exhausting workouts. All the cardiovascular exercise we foist on people might be for naught if lack sleep affects heart health. Health clubs hawk memberships and exercise as a means of reducing stress, but getting a good night’s sleep can help to lower blood pressure and rejuvenate our hormone production. “Foggy” memory? That’s probably not from too much exercise, but rather too little sleep. In fact, if you get on a piece of equipment at the gym, and you are virtually exhausted, you might do more harm than good. There are several studies that have pointed to the lack of sleep as a direct link to bulging waistlines. There are other contributing factors, but lack of adequate and restful sleep affects our cortisol and leptin levels in such a way to inhibit our body’s ability to manage fat production around our middles. When a new client comes in, and complains of weight gain, one of the first things I ask is how much sleep she is getting. http://www.wellnessresources.com/weight/articles/lack_of_sleep_stress_adrenals_and_obesity/
So, if there are people you know who brag about their ability to get through the day on 4-6 hours of sleep, pay them no mind. Work hard, breathe, and get a good night’s sleep. See how good you can feel!