‘Sleep’ is the missing transformational component you’ve been looking for. 

Sleep is something that we do for about a third of our lives, and for it to take up that amount of significant time then you’d have to think that it would be pretty important. 

Having said that, isn’t it funny that scientific studies show how obesity is at an all time high whilst our sleep quality and duration has been shown to be at an all time low? Conclusive Scientific Research now shows that there’s a direct relationship between these two counterparts. If sleep is an integral part to losing weight and feeling good, then, why not effectively take advantage of the easiest part of losing weight?

The one important fact that has been scientifically proven about sleep is that it affects the metabolic process, there’s a 1:1 relationship between sleep and metabolic activity. When you’re sleep deprived the last thing you look for are carrot and celery sticks. Think about it for a second look at the types of places open at 2am in the morning, you don’t usually see people eating hummus and tofu, you see people eating pizza, kebabs or heating up the microwaved food at the local 7-Eleven.

The best way to maximise your fat burning potential is to focus on your natural sleep wave patterns that occur between 10pm and 6am to help maximise your fat burning potential. During that time period, our bodies go through neurogenic and hormonal repair cycles, which are imperative for growth and tissue repair. Hormones are chemical messengers that communicate information between all the cells in your body. Hormones bridge together your cells for the sole purpose of keeping you in a state of balance – ‘Homeostasis’. 

Why is this important?

It’s important because, for you to make the most out of being in the fat burning state, the right hormones have to communicate the right information throughout the cells in your body. If you miss sleep throughout these times, you can put yourself in a sympathetic state that craves sugars and other stimulants as well as weakens your immune system. Let’s face it, your body doesn’t change when you’re working out or eating well, your body changes during sleep. Sleep is when growth and development happen and is the ultimate anabolic state. 

When you’re sleeping, your body releases reparative enzymes, which are biochemical catalysts. Enzymes are the key to life and must be present for any process to occur as they make the hormone communication possible and is why when you’re sleeping, your body repairs itself, resets the digestive system, and stabilizes hormones that help your metabolism to perform at its peak levels.

They traced and recorded the metrics. They then took the exact same group of people and kept the same reduced caloric diet, however, they reduced the amount of sleep they had by three hours, so now they were sleep deprived at only 5 and a half hours of sleep per night on average. They again tracked and recorded all their metrics.

The conclusion of the study revealed that when the group had 8 and a half hours of sleep per day lost 55% more body fat then when they were sleep deprived.

The point I’d like you to take from this is that if losing weight is a focal point of yours, although all of the Six Pillars play a part in creating the most impressive looking and feeling you, sleep is the most impressive way to burn more body fat.