2:30pm | You ache all over, you can’t remember what you did last weekend, you’ve unintentionally run three red lights in one day, and you’ve just told your 90-year-old grandma to step off.
Yes, lack of sleep has negative consequences on your body and mind.
My lesson on the hardships of sleeplessness came in the form of how it affected my appetite. As a bodybuilder, I can remember days when I would be in a phase of “slapping” on more lean body mass, which requires about 500 more calories than you burn, and no matter how much I ate, my feeling of fullness never came.
If I was eating more than usual, why was I not obtaining the most obvious sensation?
My sister, perhaps through her own research or maybe because of sheer instinct, suggested that maybe I was eating more because I was sleeping less. At the time, my clientele load was maxed, I was carrying my work home with me and I was staying up late because of it.
Now it is known that both appetite hormones, namely ghrelin and leptin, can be altered by your sleep habits. For instance, levels of leptin, the hormone that tells your brain you are full, have been found to be lowered significantly when a person experiences lack of sleep. No wonder why I was going broke at my favorite Long Beach restaurants (you know who you are).
On to a solution and away from the problem. How can you sleep better so you can actually give yourself a real shot on the diet? I theorize that the more relaxing your home is the better chances you have of getting great shut-eye.
So, the practical instruction is up for debate: How do you go about making your home relaxing enough to support sound sleep?