Hack your Sleep! (for weight loss, improved recovery & performance)

Over the last few decades, we’ve developed a sort of anti-sleep culture.

We are encouraged to sit late at the office, to see how dedicated we are to our work.

Students ritualistically pull all nighters before exams and while working on assignments.

Sleep is for the weak.

In order to be successful, sacrificing sleep is viewed not only as acceptable, but almost as a requirement. Yes, sometimes there is a genuine time crunch with no other option. Unfortunately, instead of being viewed as a last resort, nowadays, sacrificing sleep to “hustle” is glorified.

On the other end of the spectrum, we also forgo sleep to “have fun”, “relax” and “unwind”.

With artificial lights, and endless hours of entertainment on the internet and video streaming services, we always have something to watch, something to do and somewhere to go.

Sleep is being viewed as a distraction, in favor of actual distractions.

Why Sleep is not for the weak!

To understand why sleep is important, we need to take a look at the circadian rhythm which is the natural rhythm of our bodies as it goes through various stages of wakefulness and sleep.

Now, it’s not important to understand all the details behind the circadian rhythm for our purposes today. However, lets note that the circadian rhythm and sleep are intertwined with the release of key hormones in the body that govern important processes.

If sleep suffers, this leads to a disturbed circadian rhythm, which alters our productivity in every aspect of our lives (during the day and the night), while also has long term effects on our health.

Here are a few way sleep keeps us healthy:

• During sleep, the hormone Leptin enters the part of our brain known as the hypothalamus to upregulate thyroid function. Basically sleep is important for the Thyroid gland to work properly.
• This is also when leptin signals to the hypothalamus to mobilize fat reserves, which might be one of the reason why poor sleep is associated with high Body Mass Index (BMI) and obesity. In other words, sleep helps you become leaner.
• Melatonin, which helps us fall asleep in the first place, downregulates neuron firing in the brain, which may help with the repair of our brain cells and the consolidation of memory.
• Adequate sleep keeps our appetite hormones (like leptin and ghrelin) in balance. This helps us control cravings, and manage body weight.
• Poor sleep increases cortisol in the body, which breaks down protein and may result in a loss of muscle mass and strength. Therefore sleep may have a muscle preserving effect.
• Human Growth Hormone secretion increases during sleep, putting your body into an anabolic state, promoting cell tissue recovery and growth, including – you guess it – muscle tissue.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. There’s a lot we still don’t know about what sleep does, along the phenomena of dreaming.

However, we do know that a lack of sleep interferes with cognitive performance, immune function, protein synthesis, increases inflammation in the body and sleep deprivation over a long period of time can lead to death.

Safe to say, sleep is not for the weak. In fact if you have any aspirations of being strong at all or maintaining health, at the very least, sleep is an important tool which should not be disregarded!

How much Sleep do you need?

Age, physical activity, mental strain, illness, genetics and environment can all change the amount of sleep an individual may require.

Here’s a basic guideline that you can use:-

If you’re reading this, you’re probably teen aged or an adult, which means as per the guidelines you should avoid getting fewer than 8 – 7 hours of sleep.

By the way, do you know how we, as Indians, are doing?

Indians are among the poorest sleepers in the world, clocking in an average of just 6.5 hours of sleep every night, while 93% of Indians are sleep deprived.

That’s pandemic!

How to Improve Sleep

Thankfully for most people, getting back control of your sleep is entirely possible with minor tweaks. Lets take a look at a few!

Eat & drink the right way for better Sleep

• Avoid eating very large dinners. Eat till you’re about 80% full, and try to eat 3 – 4 hours before bedtime. I do know this isn’t logistically possible for everyone. I, myself have a hard time sticking to this one especially when I reach home at later hours after work. But if you can, this one can really help.
• Omega 3 fatty acids found in fish or fish oil (also found in algae oil for vegetarians), along with Vitamin D affect serotonin levels in the brain. Making sure you’re getting enough of these nutrients, helps regulate serotonin which in turn regulates sleep.
• According to the National Sleep Foundation, drinking alcohol before bedtime can reduce the quality of sleep, interfere with the circadian rhythm, reduce REM sleep, which is known as the most restorative stage of sleep.
• Caffeine can also disrupt sleep. Some people are genetically predisposed to process caffeine slower, and these people may particularly be at risk.
• Reduce water intake the hours before bed, so that you don’t have to wake up to go to the toilet. Make sure that you’ve had enough water throughout the day instead.

Lifestyle Hacks: Create a Pre-Sleep ritual

Why a Pre-sleep ritual is important?

Most of us cant go from 0 – 100 in the morning, right? Similarly most of us cant go from 100 – 0 right before bed. A 30 – 60 minute pre sleep ritual is important to transition our bodies into a relaxed state that promotes sleep.

How to create a Pre-sleep ritual for yourself?

• Keep a regular schedule — our bodies like regularity. Try to go to bed and wake up at the same times.
• Mimic the night time environment of our ancestors – shut off sources of blue / white light, and avoid stimuli / distractions – TV, internet, social media.
• Keep the room dark – use heavy curtains or a sleep mask.
• Do things that relax you without stimulating you – Stretching, reading, hot bath, meditation / breathing exercises lying down.
• If you can’t stop thinking, do a brain dump! – Write down all your thoughts that keep popping to your mind, and give yourself permission to come back to the next day.

Move during the Day, Sleep like a baby at night!

Regular physical activity promotes sleep by resetting the circadian rhythm of the body.

Exercises also helps release feel good chemicals known as endorphins, and stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system which helps calm us down and relax.

Finally, it regulates endocrine function – infact losing body fat can normalise leptin and ghrelin levels, and improve insulin sensitivity. And thus, losing weight helps us sleep better, which in turn helps us lose more weight.

Exercise recommendations

For the regular nine to fiver, its best to experiment with morning as well as evening exercise to see what works best. I’ve tried both, and in my experience the body adapts very quickly to either schedule even though initially starting may feel like a slog. Do keep in mind hat doing very high intensity work can interfere with sleep if its done close to your bedtime.

For someone who has a bit more flexibility in their schedule, I’d recommend intense training be slotted for the afternoon between 2:30 PM and 5:00 PM when the body is primed for maximum performance as per our normal circadian rhythm. Doing this can also help regulate your sleep. Light cardio, like jogging can be done in the morning hours.

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