The importance of a restful sleep for a healthy life can never be over emphasized. When we talk of sleep, quality is very important.
Lack of good quality sleep will not only put your diet and exercise routine to next day, it will also lead to compromised digestion, assimilation and optimum performance at work out front.
Sleep is clearly the most underestimated and overlooked aspect of inch/ fat loss.
It’s important to realize that it’s in sleep that the body undertakes all its recovery and repair process. So if you don’t get good quality sleep you are compromising strength building, lean body mass and fat loss!
We have spoken so much about the ‘good quality sleep’, but the perils of modern life and our habits make it a distant reality. These include-
- Sleeping at wrong hours. Follow the body clock. Best time to sleep is from 10:00pm to 5:30 am. Check your routine, if your sleep around 12 or 1 am, aim towards preponing your bedtime by 30 mins this week.
- Eating a late and heavy dinner– when the body has unfinished task of digesting food at hand, it cannot work towards retiring for the day.
- Late night exposure to radiation from TV, Mobiles, Laptops, Tabs.. any source, keeps the body optic sensors in the ‘day mode’ secreting hormones that keep you in a state of alertness than those required for inducing sleep. For those who are up till 3 am watching whatsapp videos, imagine the havoc these hormones play on your system. The body’s recovery is compromised, the body remains flabby and sluggish- FAT.
- Many nocturnals also indulge in late night snacking, which further adds to weight gain and insulin insensitivity.
- Tea/ coffee post dinner- Be it chamomile tea or green coffee, they are belong to the ‘stimulant’ category. Having a stimulant before bedtime is antagonistic to keeping the body in a state of calm to fall asleep. It stresses the body, by keeping the body in a state of ‘high alert’.
- Alcohol- Drinking alcohol prevents you from entering the deep restorative stages of sleep. It’s here that restoration work of the mind and body takes place
This week
- Prepone your bedtime by 30 mins
- Keep your phone, TV or any other source of radiation away at least 30 mins before your bedtime. Read a book instead.
- If you do crave a drink before bedtime, have a cup of milk. Milk is known to induce sleep.
- Aim to eat dinner atleast 2- 3 hours before bedtime for better digestion and restful sleep.
