If you have a choice to wake up early to work out or sleep, which one do you think I would suggest? Well, it depends.
If you are in a sleep surplus and feel energized to wake up early - do it. If you are tired and in a sleep deficit, please sleep.
Often, our lack of sleep can ABSOLUTELY stall our efforts to make improvements in our health. Particularly when we are trying to lose body fat.
Here are the details. A sleep deficit does the following:
Increases Cortisol - our Stress Hormone - which also stimulates additional release of insulin. Insulin is a fat storage hormone.
Increases Blood Glucose which increases insulin.
Increases Insulin. Enough Said.
Decreases Insulin Sensitivity. We now need more insulin to manage our blood glucose… additional insulin means more likelihood of storing body fat.
Increases Ghrelin. This is our hunger hormone that increases our appetite, which would promote a calorie surplus, encouraging fat storage.
Decreases Leptin. Decreased leptin is what we believe to be a hallmark of obesity. A low leptin level tells our body to hold onto as much body fat as possible, even if we have extra to spare.
Bottom line. We need to strike a balance. Sleep is a crucial part of achieving our health goals… and we didn’t even discuss the implications that a sleep deficit has on our mood.
Also, keep in mind that many of us have a variant in our cortisol release hormone gene. If we have this variant (which my genetics test revealed), then we have the possibility of releasing even more cortisol which will amplify all of the above.
About Ali Novitsky, MD
Dr. Novitsky is certified by the Life Coach School, Obesity Board Certified, a physician speaker, and fitness enthusiast. Ali helps women physicians achieve their optimal health with scientific, yet intuitive, principles that work.
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