GO HEALTHY GO FIT

Guest Post: Get Better Sleep

Posted on Jan 29, 2009 by Andrew in General Guest Posts .

Today we’ve got a guest post from Parth Shah.

About the Author

Parth Shah is an average joe who’s tired of all the nonsense he sees in mainstream health and fitness media. His thoughts, ideas, and philosophy can be found on his website, ShahTraining.com. (Feed - http://feeds.feedburner.com/shahtraining/UQuk)

Maybe my mom is right. She tells me, “You’ll start gaining weight as you start working and get older.” I always respond by saying, “No! Exercise is my life! I’ll be fit forever!

Well…well…well. Guest what!

Some of us young, healthy guys may be at risk of gaining unwanted fat as we age due to decreasing sleep. In a study recently published in the Journal of American Medical Association, researchers found that a lack of deep sleep decreased the production of human growth hormone (HGH) by the anterior pituitary gland. We already know how important HGH is to mass gain and fat loss.

Another study found that slow-wave, or deep sleep, decreased by more than five and a half times from young adulthood to mid-life. This means that if you can get about 8 hours of deep sleep per night when you’re 15, you’ll only be able to get about an hour and a half of deep sleep when you’re 40!

Four Ways to Get Better Sleep:

Increase Body Heat

• Dutch scientists found that increasing skin temperature by .4 degrees Celsius allowed a patient to shift to deeper stages of sleep.
• Researchers found that skin temperature affects the cells in the hypthalamus of the brain, which are responsible for controlling sleep.
• Taking a hot bath 20 minute before bedtime is good way to increase body temperature.

• Studies have shown that participants exercise on a consistent basis, they report falling asleep faster, sleeping longer, and waking up less frequently during the night compared to whey did not exercise.
• However, if you already exercise on a consistent basis, you will not notice any change in sleeping patterns. However, a disturbance in your sleeping patterns may point to a case of over training.
• 20-30 minutes of exercise, five times a week is a good starting point to improve your sleep cycles. But researchers also point out that each person is different, and may need more or less exercise to see a difference in their sleep patterns.

Forget Daytime Naps

• Naps are for kids. Taking daytime naps may be a way to get more sleep, but that does not necessarily mean that you’re getting deeper sleep.
• For example, lets say you take an hours nap during the day. Unless you’re extremely tired, it may take you 15-20 minutes just to get to sleep. By the time you’re starting to get your deep sleep, it’s time for you to get up.

• Nicotine is a stimulant and disrupts sleep patterns. During the night, smokers experience nicotine withdrawal, which makes it difficult to sleep.
• Caffeine causes sleep problems for up to 10 - 12 hours after consumption. Have your caffeine during breakfast and lunch, or cut down on your consumption.
• Alcohol actually reduces the quality of your sleep. For a deeper sleep, stay away from excessive alcohol a few hours before sleep.

• Exercise just a few hours before you bedtime. For example, if you sleep at 10 pm, then it’s a good idea to workout at 5-6 pm, eat dinner, watch a little TV, then go to bed.
• Exercise at an extremely high level of intensity. Light or moderate exercise will actually wake your body up. This sort of training is good as a morning or afternoon workout.

• Replace easy exercises with harder variations, or find some way to make the exercise harder. If you are using free weights, then the best method is to simply increase the weight.
• Attempt to complete the workout faster. Start timing every single workout you perform. The next time you perform that workout, or a similar workout, it should be completed faster.

Big thanks to Parth for providing us with his guest post. Please feel free to ask Parth any questions you have.

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Tags: fitness, get better sleep, health, how to get better sleep, Nutrition, Parth Shah, what exercises should I do to get better sleep?, working out to sleep better