Insights

Sleep for Success

How many times have you woken up after a poor night’s sleep and said “Yes! Today is going to be a great day!”? Yeah…me neither.

You’ve heard of countless recipes to help you maximize your day’s potential by performing certain rituals/activities in the morning. I am here to tell you (although I am not the first) that your best day actually starts the night before.

We as a society are surrounded by constant stimulation and stress. As a result, getting good quality sleep is more difficult now than ever. With increasing demands from work and only limited hours to accomplish tasks, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” is a phrase that seems to be used far too often. My immediate thought upon hearing this is “If you don’t sleep you WILL die.” This statement does hold some merit since strong evidence demonstrates that lack of sleep leads to development of numerous chronic diseases. Moreover, sleep deprivation disrupts important metabolic pathways involved in energy balance and regulation. Let’s explore some of these disruptions…

Hormones

The term “metabolic” has gained some serious attention within the fitness industry. From metabolic syndrome to metabolic resistance training, the idea is that your metabolism is central to your ability for reducing fat, increasing muscle and helping you achieve your fitness goals. For the most part, the metabolic discussion relates to the function of hormones. Your hormones, if left unchecked can disrupt your lifestyle. When working optimally, can make you feel like a million bucks.

The hypothalamic-pituitary axis and the autonomic nervous system are two main pathways that help regulate hormones in the body. The pituitary is the “master” gland that releases precursor hormones (ACTH, TSH etc.) which signal peripheral organs downstream to release specific hormones. The pituitary is markedly influenced by sleep disruption and modulation of this organ is affected by hypothalamic factors. Loss of sleep may cause these factors to function inappropriately. Poor function at the master gland causes unbalanced secretion of hormones peripherally. We briefly discuss the effects of these disruptions below.

• Cortisol – The “Stress hormone” is often viewed as the enemy of our health and fitness goals. From its catabolic effects on muscle to covering up our six-pack abs, cortisol can be detrimental to building muscle and losing fat. However, cortisol is also the primary mobilizer of energy and therefore, becomes essential during a training session to help us tackle those extra burpees or sprints towards the end of a workout. Thus, it can be a powerful ally when you need some extra minutes for overtime. Cortisol has gotten a bad rap as research has highlighted it to be the main player in times of stress. What is interesting about stress is that our bodies are very poor at understanding the various types. For instance, a feud with your significant other or an argument with a coworker would mount the same response (increased cortisol/stress) as would an intense, but enjoyable, training session. Therefore, if this goes unchecked it can wreak havoc on your physique and performance goals. High cortisol has been shown to have a correlation with increased abdominal fat and even contributes to those cravings that constantly ruin your “beach body diet” (stress eating, anyone?) [1].Getting quality sleep is a sure fire way to keep this hormone in check and your fitness goals on track.
• Leptin (Appetite Suppressant) – This is one of the main appetite regulating hormones that signals the brain when you are satiated. Because of its powerful role in appetite suppression, Leptin is a potent fat burning hormone. Only a few days of sleep deprivation significantly decreases body leptin levels making you feel hungry even in times of excess caloric consumption [2, 5].
• Ghrelin (Appetite Stimulant) – Another appetite regulator. Ghrelin is secreted by the cells in the stomach to stimulate appetite (Ghrelin makes the stomach Growl). High levels of ghrelin can make you feel like a hungry hippo, destroying that lean physique you worked so hard for. As little as one night of sleep deprivation can increase ghrelin levels, particularly raising appetite for foods rich in carbohydrates (helloooo love handles) [3, 4, 5].
• Growth Hormone (GH) – Ah the sweet stuff…Traditionally recognized as the “regenerative” hormone. GH plays a key role in helping you recover from injuries, stress and promoting growth. GH secretion is inversely related with age. This is a pulsatile hormone that peaks within the first few hours of sleep and can surge multiple times if the duration of sleep is long enough. So the more time you spend sleeping, the greater the opportunity for GH to work its magic [6]. GH also has a profound effect on glucose regulation. It has anti-insulin like properties and disturbances in GH function can contribute to poor glucose tolerance.
• Insulin – Insulin plays a key role in helping process the foods that we eat and regulate our blood sugar. Inadequate sleep can have adverse effects on your metabolic system by promoting insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes and obesity [7]. Even in healthy subjects, a few days of sleep deprivation can cause poor glucose tolerance [8].
• Thyroid Hormone –Thyroid hormone is crucial for bone health, cardiovascular health, neurocognitive functioning, and metabolism. One of the primary symptoms of low thyroid levels is increased weight gain. Sleep deprivation has a drastically negative effect on TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone). Only six days of diminished sleep can cause TSH levels to drop by more than 30%! [9]
  
  In summation: Low TSH --> Low Thyroid hormone --> Bye-Bye fat loss.

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• Testosterone/Estrogen – The gonadal hormones are responsible for our secondary sex characteristics at a younger age. As we get older, optimal levels help spice up our lives in the bedroom, facilitate our fat loss and muscle gains, and also provide neurocognitive and psychological benefits. Sleep loss suppresses testosterone levels even in young, healthy individuals by 10-15% after only few days [10]. These effects are even more profound in older individuals who already have diminishing, age-related decrease in testosterone levels. While this is by no means an exhaustive list of the metabolic derangements that the body undergoes with sleep deprivation, it does serve as a primer for you to understand the endocrinological effects associated with poor/lack of sleep.
  
  Note: Only some of the hormonal aspects of sleep disruption are discussed here. We did not even cover the effects on cognition, learning, memory, mood, muscle repair, CNS recovery, immune function, cardiovascular effects and a host of other physiological benefits of good sleep.
• Now if you find yourself completely dialed in with your nutrition and exercise but still struggling to reach your goals, check your sleep habits. In fact, I would go as far as to say that poor sleep will negate the benefits of a perfect nutrition and exercise plan.  So the most important question for you is, HOW CAN YOU IMPROVE YOUR SLEEP HABITS? Try the following suggestions to get your best sleep today!

Tips to Improve Sleep

• Turn off electronics at a minimum 30-45 minutes prior to bedtime. Artificial light interferes with melatonin (sleep hormone) production. If you must do work at night, use electronics on a dim light software (we recommend f.lux which you can download for free here).
• De-stress by gentle stretching or light, non-stimulating reading (book on tax codes will do wonders here).
• Turn down the temperature – Studies show that most people sleep better at lower temp of approx. 65-69 Degrees.
• Make the room as dark as possible by using blackout curtains, use a sleep mask, turning your phone face down – This will enhance melatonin production.
• Take a warm bath or shower – This might seem counterintuitive but the underlying theory for this is the cooling of body temp after the warm bath/shower (see #3).  
• Don’t use electronics in bed – This goes along with #1. Those Instagram likes and Candy Crush can wait till the morning. Likewise, watching TV in bed also promotes poor sleep hygiene.

Make good sleep a priority

Use a sleep diary – why are you not sleeping well? Is it stress? Medications? Too much fluids/caffeine? Poor sleep hygiene? You cannot fix what you do not know. Much like a food journal or your workout log, recording details about your sleep habits can pay dividends in helping you optimize the quantity AND quality of your sleep.  

So until next time…Good night!

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References

• Yau YH, Potenza MN. Stress and eating behaviors. Minerva Endocrinol. 2013;38(3):255-67.
• Spiegel K, Leproult R, L'hermite-balériaux M, Copinschi G, Penev PD, Van cauter E. Leptin levels are dependent on sleep duration: relationships with sympathovagal balance, carbohydrate regulation, cortisol, and thyrotropin. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2004;89(11):5762-71.
• Spiegel K, Tasali E, Penev P, Van cauter E. Brief communication: Sleep curtailment in healthy young men is associated with decreased leptin levels, elevated ghrelin levels, and increased hunger and appetite. Ann Intern Med. 2004;141(11):846-50.
• Schmid SM, Hallschmid M, Jauch-chara K, Born J, Schultes B. A single night of sleep deprivation increases ghrelin levels and feelings of hunger in normal-weight healthy men. J Sleep Res. 2008;17(3):331-4.
• Taheri S, Lin L, Austin D, Young T, Mignot E. Short sleep duration is associated with reduced leptin, elevated ghrelin, and increased body mass index. PLoS Med. 2004;1(3):e62.
• Morris CJ, Aeschbach D, Scheer FA. Circadian system, sleep and endocrinology. Mol Cell Endocrinol. 2012;349(1):91-104.
• Spiegel K, Knutson K, Leproult R, Tasali E, Van cauter E. Sleep loss: a novel risk factor for insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes. J Appl Physiol. 2005;99(5):2008-19.
• Donga E, Van dijk M, Van dijk JG, et al. A single night of partial sleep deprivation induces insulin resistance in multiple metabolic pathways in healthy subjects. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2010;95(6):2963-8.
• Spiegel K, Leproult R, Van cauter E. Impact of sleep debt on metabolic and endocrine function. Lancet. 1999;354(9188):1435-9.
• Leproult R, Van cauter E. Effect of 1 week of sleep restriction on testosterone levels in young healthy men. JAMA. 2011;305(21):2173-4.