I know I promised to put up a post on the negative implications of alcohol on fat burning and muscle building, but I'll put that one up at another time.  This seems more important right now.

This past week I had more than a few conversations with clients who told me that they were not getting enough sleep.  Some of them were getting 4 hours, while others were only getting 5 hours a night.  Not good.  Not good at all.

Got a great question for you.  How would you like to be fat and old before your time?  If you're not getting enough sleep, that is exactly what you're doing.  I confess, I have an ongoing line that I like to use and blurt out.  When someone says to me, "Tony, you need to take it easy and get some rest. Don't push it too hard."  I always love to say back, "I'm not stopping or slowing down.  I'll sleep when I die."  LOL :)

Well, the joke is on me if I really believe that, and worse, live it.  Truth be told, without proper sleep you're only an empty shell of what you could possibly be if you were getting a good night's rest. 

I want you to take that in for moment and read what I stated one more time.  If you're not getting at least 6-8 hours of sleep a night, then you are an EMPTY SHELL of what you could be.  This is serious and we all need to take it that way.

Failure on your current weight loss or exercise program could be directly related to your lack of sleep.  You can attribute cravings, over-eating and even weight gain to poor sleeping patterns.  But wait, it gets much worse than that.

There are many studies, recent and some dating back well over a decade, which find a direct correlation between lack of sleep and the following: hypertension, metabolic disorders, diabetes and memory loss to name a few.  Basically, these are all hallmarks of aging.

While I understand that some us have late nights which can seem to be out of our control, instead most of us choose to live that way.  Yes, it's important to have time to unwind from your busy day.  Otherwise, it sometimes seems like one day is just becoming part of another.  We need time to gather our thoughts and just kick back.  I get it.  Truly I do.  But, many of us are opting for the television or computer instead of sleep and that is a foolish decision.

If you're not getting enough sleep, serious negative implications will arise:

• Increased weight gain and obesity.  There are many factors that could play a role in increased fat and weight gain.  Recent studies show an increased appetite for higher calories the day following sleep deprivation.  Particularly, carbohydrates were the main craving.  Lack of sleep can lead not only to increased calorie consumption, but most being in the form of carbs which could also impact blood sugar and fat storage.
• lack of focus and mental clarity. 
• Sensitivity to stress leading to disorders such as depression, constipation and digestive issues.
• Hormonal imbalance: Leptin & Grehlin are two hormones involved in body weight.
  If Lack of sleep occurs too often, levels of Grehlin rises, causing greater appetite, and levels of Leptin will then decrease. Even though an individual may be involved in exercise, it's still possible that obesity is caused, or made worse, by sleep deprivation. Other hormones negatively affected are both thyroid and cortisol.  Put simply, no muscle gains will occur and fat will increase and get trapped around your waist as the outcome. 
• Weakened immune system
•  Memory loss
• Increased risk of high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.

Interestingly, when those involved in the studies were able to benefit from the necessary sleep their bodies lacked (12-hours or more), all of the sleep deprivation abnormalities returned to normal.  However, it's worth noting that those who only caught 8 hours of sleep still did not get themselves back to full health.  All this to say, sleep is imperative to your fat burning, muscle building lifestyle.

How's your sleep doing lately?