Sleep?

jdp21

I'm sure this question has been asked before. And I'm sorry if this was the wrong place! Still getting used to all this.

Here's my situation. I'm a late-night guy. Even if I woke up at 6 in the morning, I'll probably still be up until around 3:00 or 4:00 in the following morning. It's a bad habit of mine. But my question is... is sleep important to weight loss and overall health? I know lack of sleep in a night can make you feel exhausted the next day, but does it affect stuff like weight loss, metabolism, and so on? Is it important that I get to bed around 10 or 11 and keep myself from sleeping in late (today was pretty bad; I slept in until 3:00 pm)?

jdp21

I'm sure this question has been asked before. And I'm sorry if this was the wrong place! Still getting used to all this.

Here's my situation. I'm a late-night guy. Even if I woke up at 6 in the morning, I'll probably still be up until around 3:00 or 4:00 in the following morning. It's a bad habit of mine. But my question is... is sleep important to weight loss and overall health? I know lack of sleep in a night can make you feel exhausted the next day, but does it affect stuff like weight loss, metabolism, and so on? Is it important that I get to bed around 10 or 11 and keep myself from sleeping in late (today was pretty bad; I slept in until 3:00 pm)?

laurajoyk

I'm not an expert LOL but when you are sick sleeping and resting helps you get better and gives your body time to repair and heal itself. So if you are working out or dieting, the time you sleep is the time your body can adjust and heal the muscles you have been working on. Your body needs sleep to be able to fix itself. I hope that makes sense.

Also, your body actually burns a lot of calories while you sleep.

I'm a night owl too, but I try to get between 5 and a half and 7 hours of sleep every night, or more when I can.

in_to_win

I find that if I stay up late at night, I snack more. So I try and be in bed by 10pm and up for the gym before 6am. That's just me though, everyone is different. I haven't slept in past 8am in years!

stillkristi

My trainer said one of the tings I have to be mindful of is adequate sleep. Its one of the things that can keep us from losing the weight, so it seems like the answer is yes, ya gotta get enough sleep.

jdp21

I wish I had the clock to go to sleep early and wake up early.

I also find that I tend to snack more if I'm up late, for example, it's 4:00 am right now, and I just had a cupcake... haha.

I don't know why I stay up late, because oddly enough when I go to sleep early and get up early, I feel excellent, well-rested, energetic, and motivated.

mandyc1108

I don't think it matters so much WHEN you sleep as HOW MUCH sleep you are getting. I am also a night person and usually don't go to bed till at least 2 or 3am, but I sleep till at least 10 or 11am. I just tend to be more active and get more done at night, so I just go with the flow (but I have the privledge of being a military wife with no outside job). Make sure you are getting around 8 hours of sleep and I think you'll be ok.

réalta

lack of enough sleep makes us eat more, whether we realise it or not :flowerforyou:
try to get at least 8 hours

Chenoachem

I had a fitness tip recently in one of my programs that said that by having less than 8 hours of sleep can decrease your metabolic rate up to 1/2. So not only are you likely to snack, as us morning people do in the morning, but you can decrease the amount of calories you burn. I would suggest fitting in a known meal, like someone working a night shift. Maybe that would curve the snacking.

dclarsh

I'm sure this question has been asked before. And I'm sorry if this was the wrong place! Still getting used to all this.

Here's my situation. I'm a late-night guy. Even if I woke up at 6 in the morning, I'll probably still be up until around 3:00 or 4:00 in the following morning. It's a bad habit of mine. But my question is... is sleep important to weight loss and overall health? I know lack of sleep in a night can make you feel exhausted the next day, but does it affect stuff like weight loss, metabolism, and so on? Is it important that I get to bed around 10 or 11 and keep myself from sleeping in late (today was pretty bad; I slept in until 3:00 pm)?

The most important thing is to get 7-8 hours of continuous, good quality sleep. It doesn't matter when you do it though, but being consistent with what time you go to bed/wake up is usually a good idea. And yes, not getting enough sleep DOES impede our weight loss efforts. When we don't get enough sleep, our bodies release more of the hormones that increase appetite and less of the hormones that make us feel satiated, which of course, equals more eating and snacking.