We all know the importance of a workout routine and a healthy diet to help us achieve our fitness goals. However, many people often overlook a good sleep routine. We’ve all heard how exercise helps us sleep better, in today’s blog we are going to be looking at how sleep can help us exercise better. At Aamir Fitness, we are not only here to help you with your diet and exercise, we offer flexible online personal training, to help you in your fitness journey.
Understanding Sleep Through My Online Personal Training
We all know the importance of a workout routine and a healthy diet to help us achieve our fitness goals. Sleeping is a fundamental physiological process, that is more than just resting, essential for various bodily functions. During sleep, the body undergoes repair and recovery processes, essential for muscle growth, tissue repair, hormone regulation and immune function.
Sleep deficiency has been linked to changes in brain function and is linked to an increased risk of depression and anxiety. People who undergo my online personal training programme, I stress the importance of how crucial sleep is for optimal performance, recovery and achieving overall fitness goals.
How much do you really need?
The National Institute of Health recommends that an adult sleeps between 7 to 9 hours a night, although individual requirements may differ. Throughout my online personal training program, I explain the importance of listening to your body. If you wake up feeling fatigue, difficulty concentrating and overall tiredness, you might need to adjust your sleeping routine.
Role of Sleep in fitness goals
- Muscle Recovery and Repair: During sleep, your body enters a state of repair. In deep sleep segments your body releases growth hormones, which are vital for repairing and maintaining muscles after exercise. When sleep-deprived, the process is hindered, leading to slower recovery and chances of injury.
- Hormone regulation: Sleep regulates the production of hormones that affect metabolism, appetite and energy levels. Sleep deprivation disrupts hormonal balances such as increases in cortisol levels, a stress hormone that promotes muscle breakdown. Therefore, potentially leading to muscle breakdown which hinders fitness goals.
- Mental Clarity: Sleep is essential for mental well-being and mood regulation. Sleep deprivation can lead to difficulty concentrating and fog your memory. This can affect your performance in the gym with ability to focus and could potentially lead to a risk of energy. Mental clarity and focus are vital to maintain motivation in your fitness journey.
- Performance and Energy Levels: A well rested body is an energised body. Sleep deprivation decreases energy levels which makes working out more challenging. As a result, you will be more likely to be demotivated, reduced endurance, poor exercise form, impacting fitness progress and performance.
Creating a Good Sleep Routine
- Establishing a good sleep schedule: This involves a consistent routine of waking up and going to sleep at the same time every day. This helps regulate your body’s natural sleep wake cycle
- Bedtime routine: Developing a relaxing bedtime routine to signal to your body that it’s time for sleep. This could involve taking a bath, meditating etc. Avoid screen time an hour before bedtime to make it easier to drift off. Ensure your sleep environment is in a comfortable setting with a comfortable mattress and pillows.
- Regular exercise: By engaging in physical exercise, this promotes better sleep quality and helps regulate sleeping cycle. However, avoid strenuous workouts before bed as it increases alertness.
- Limit caffeine and Alcohol: While coffee during the morning and afternoon can boost energy levels, avoid excessive caffeine especially later in the day to help promote better sleep. Alcohol can disrupt sleep throughout your sleep cycle during the night.
- Manage stress: Stress Management techniques such as meditation and yoga can help your body unwind and prepare the brain for sleep to achieve a restful sleep.
The Connection between Sleep and Nutrition
In my online personal training programme, I place a huge emphasis on how sleep and nutrition go hand in hand. Poor sleep can lead to craving for high sugar and high fat foods, leading to overeating and weight gain. However, whenever you’re well rested, you are more inclined to make a healthier food decision to aid in your fitness journey.
Bonus tip- Track Your Sleep
Tracking sleep can be as easy as checking your Apple health app, or having a device which helps you monitor your sleep to be able to identify areas that need to be improved. Other apps that offer meditation, white noise etc can enhance your sleep quality.
Creating a routine and sleep habits takes time and effort to be able to optimise your body. Remember, consistency is key!
At Aamir Fitness, we are here to support you every step of the way with our flexible online personal training programmes.Through my online personal training, we go beyond workouts and nutrition, by offering guidance on sleep hygiene to optimise performance and results.