Rest, Relaxation and Fat Loss

As a Personal Trainer, I encourage an active lifestyle. If you train with me you’re probably thinking it is quite oxymoronic to see me write, rest, relaxation and fat loss in the same sentence. You might think you should be doing more exercise to see results. Depending on your level of physical activity this may or may not be true. Good nutrition and an active lifestyle will always be a factor in optimum health but there really is a lot more that needs to be included. I have often come across people who are 100% careful about the food they eat, they exercise as prescribed by the latest fitness guru and yet they’ll swear they can’t lose body fat. This phenomenon begs the question, why? What else can we do to increase our chances of being at our peak performance in exercise, ideal body composition or simply good health? In this article I want to explore the correlation of rest, relaxation, and fat loss and how it can translate to better health..

Rest

Sleep needs vary from person to person. Even with the variety of sleep requirements, most of us know we aren’t getting enough sleep.  We enjoy electric lighting that gives us endless “hours to our day”. Being a busy woman, I too enjoy the quiet of the night; sometimes I feel it is my most productive time. Unfortunately the latest research is quite clear that less sleep is making us fat and unhealthy. There are many studies that show that not getting enough sleep for even one week can start to impair glucose tolerance which leads to insulin resistance/diabetes. There are lots of hormones at work in the body. Normal sleep helps to regulate these hormones. We have hormones to tell us that we are full (leptin) and hormones that tells us when we are hungry (ghrelin). In a healthy body these hormones work in harmony. In sleep deprived individuals leptin levels go down and ghrelin levels go up, which means, if you are sleep deprived you have a bigger appetite and the signal to tell you when you ate enough is down… and so here comes the night time binge!

I have no doubt research will improve and the science of healthy living will be more exact but at the moment science shows that if you are sleep deprived you are 50% more likely to be overweight. Not getting enough sleep is a huge risk factor in having excess body fat.

For some it isn’t as simple as just jumping into bed earlier. Most of our bodies need to wind down to get into a good sleep routine. Suggestions for better sleep include reducing exposure to electric lights in the evenings, sleeping in a completely dark room, avoiding eating a heavy meal (sleep can be disrupted due to digestion); some may benefit from a light snack, and ultimately get into bed earlier.

Relaxation

There are so many reasons to be stressed. There is sudden stress, such as sudden loss of a loved one, natural disaster, medical emergencies and so on. The body has a natural response to go into high functioning mode, the “fight or flight” response is alert and ready. The body produces hormones that enable humans to do the seemingly impossible. This response to stress is actually very important and beneficial to the survival of humans.

Then there is another type of stress known as the “modern lifestyle”.  Our lives are so busy. We are involved non-stop in financial concerns, family problems, overfilled schedules, highly competitive work environments, too much physical activity, traffic, and more. There is no shortage of things that come up in our daily lives to leave us with chronic stress. This kind of stress also produces a hormonal response but it is unnatural to be in a constant state of “high alert”. One of the hormones being released is cortisol. Cortisol is responsible for proper glucose metabolism, insulin released for blood sugar maintenance, immune function and inflammatory response. These are all good things when cortisol levels are normal and only elevated on occasion. With the chronic stress that we experience the body no longer responds properly to the high levels of cortisol resulting in problems with insulin resistance, excess inflammation, weak immunity and all this wreaks havoc in the body, leaving us overweight, tired and open to disease. This is not the picture of ideal health.Anyone seriously looking to lose weight or who has other health concerns should put in a real effort to reduce their levels of chronic stress. The big stuff is going to happen, that is a part of life. The body can handle it on occasions. There is little you can do to avoid the major stresses. Strategies need to be put in place to manage everyday stress for optimum health. Relaxation is going to look different from person to person. Ideas are meditation, prayer, yoga, music, walking, reframing, positive visualization, setting boundaries, massage and more. Insert your favourite relaxation ritual here and make sure to use it as a tool for good health and fat loss.

In conclusion, I’ll always love the movement and high energy of fitness but I’m learning to respect the body’s need for rest and relaxation. It is clear to me that without including a protocol to reduce stress and get more sleep the perfect nutritional or exercise program is less effective. Make sure to get your R&R.