Like you, I suspect, I have a to-do list that runneth over. To fit in exercise, plus all my job responsibilities and family time, I used to steal from sleep—staying up too late, then dragging myself to the gym at 6 a.m. Big mistake! So my first piece of advice on the path to your best body is to sleep!
Do you like that? Thought you might. Don't believe me? Consider this:
A study in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that clocking too few zzz's may increase your appetite, which is what used to happen to me. I would replace the calories burned during a spinning class or run (and then some) because I felt depleted. People who log a solid eight hours, on the other hand, tend to weigh less. Ample shut-eye encourages your body to produce more of the fullness hormone leptin and less of the hunger hormone ghrelin, plus it helps ease anxiety and depression, both of which can trigger emotional eating.
You may also avoid injury. Skimp on sleep, and you're more prone to clumsiness, which could mean a crash. A tired brain processes information more slowly, stalling reaction time so that even simple movements (pedaling a bicycle, swinging a tennis racket) can feel awkward. A study in Occupational & Environmental Medicine tested people on everything from coordination to concentration and found that those who got too little rest scored, on average, the same or lower than those with a blood-alcohol level of 0.05.
Rest assured, workouts (like SELF's 30-day ab makeover program) will be more effective after a good night's sleep.
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