Exercise and food, that’s the secret right?
The magic formula for that transformation you want to achieve.
You just need to know the “right” exercises, the “correct” amount of steps and the “perfect” macro split and you’ll be set, right?
WRONG
It doesn’t matter if you’re wanting to lose weight or build muscle, there is a key ingredient that many people overlook or have no idea about.
Exercise and food are just two parts of the equation. Of course recovery is a third part, but what about sleep.
Do you ever go into a fat loss or build phase and consciously think about your sleep or lack there off?
You should
When it comes to sleep, deprivation can have a big negative effect on our results.
We’ll break the negative affects up by goals for ease and interest.
Weight loss goal
We have two hormones that play a role in our hunger regulation.
Grehlin is the hunger hormone that stimulates hunger, when we are sleep deprived this is elevated and leads to cravings.
Leptin is the hormone that signals fullness. Sleep deprivation lowers leptin levels leaving us feeling unsatisfied and overeating.
When we are sleep deprived our brain sends SOS Signals for more energy. The brain is a clever monkey and knows that sugary calorie dense foods give us a quick boost in energy. Unfortunately, the boost doesn’t last long and the brain sends out more SOS signals resulting in consuming a lot of extra calories for quick bursts of energy.
Even if you know this isn’t a great idea, when your tired your will power is depleted making it harder to say no to these foods.
We all know that when we have lack of sleep the last thing we want to do is exercise. The fatigue that comes with sleep deprivation reduces motivation and energy making it almost 1000 times harder to get your training done.
We talk a lot about cortisol, it’s almost the hype word of 2025. But it’s something that needs to be considered.
Increased cortisol can lead to fat storage, particularly in the mid-section. Combine this with the fact that sleep deprivation reduces your bodies sensitivity to insulin leading to higher blood sugar levels and again fat storage becomes a real thing.
But what if building muscle is you goal? How does sleep deprivation negatively impact your bodies ability to build muscle?
Muscle building goal
synthesis. Lack of sleep reduces the bodies protein synthesis abilities slowing
down muscle growth.
The elevated cortisol we talked about in the weight loss
section also leads to catabolism of muscles (muscle tissue breakdown) definitely
not productive for muscle growth.
Again, sleep deprivation affects hormones. Sleep is essential for testosterone production. Testosterone is essential for growth repair and strength gains. Not only does sleep deprivation lower testosterone levels but it also reduces the amount of growth hormone the body produces.
Poor sleep will also weaken your immune system. This makes it harder for your body to recover from intense workouts – yes your immune system plays a role in recovery.
As with weight loss, lack of sleep effects your energy levels and your want to train will be reduced.
This fatigue limits your intensity and the effectiveness of your strength training sessions.
So, you can see that whilst training is important and nutrition is important, ensuring your sleep is adequate is just as important. And for many this could be the missing link in their training programs.
If you’re someone that struggles with sleep, try addressing your night time routine. Not just the 20 mins before trying to go to sleep, but take a step back and look at the entire night time routine.
Perhaps reach out to a doctor if it is particularly bad.
When it comes to sleep, the importance of quality sleep and the length of time spent sleeping should never be underestimated.
