Summary

• Sleep is THE most important part of our body's recovery process and a lack of good quality sleep could be ruining your running training and performance
• A lack of good quality sleep can have profound effects on all areas of your life
• Sleep is always covered in pillar #5 (Rest & Recovery) of our 7 Core Pillars of Running
• Your physical, mental and emotional health are all affected by the quality of your sleep
• As well as your sleep affecting your ability to lose weight, excess body fat can affect your sleep (it's a bit of a catch-22 situation)
• Check out our Running Coaching Programs in our Online Store

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Inspirational Quotes

Full Transcript

[The following is the full transcript of this episode of the BE Fit Coach "Let's Talk Running" show.  Please note that this episode, like all LTR episodes, is usually unscripted and unedited and features Barrie talking about a subject that we believe runners will find useful and interesting.]

Lack of good quality sleep can make everything seem harder! Motivation to run is one area that can be seriously impacted along with energy levels and endurance capacity. But a lack of sleep can also have a significant impact on many areas of your life.

Hi, I'm Barrie Evans, the owner here at BE Fit Coach and in this video I'm going to be taking a look at 5 signs that you aren’t getting enough good quality sleep.

Firstly, your workouts feel too hard. For us here at BE Fit Coach, this comes under Pillar #1 of our 7 Core Pillars of Running. If you're unfamiliar with our 7 Core Pillars approach you will find a link down below to a previous blog post where we explain the 7 pillars in a lot more detail.

Our body uses sleep as an opportunity to refresh neurotransmitter levels and remove energy-draining metabolites, so a lack of sleep can result in:
- Decreased Central Nervous System Activity
- Low energy and endurance capacity, and...
- Reduced desire to exercise, along with
- Depressed mood, and
- Slower reaction times

Secondly, your mind is foggy
What we experience and learn gets cemented to memory while we sleep, so interference in this process can result in:
- Forgetfulness
- Reduced alertness and concentration
- Confusion
- Poor judgement

Third, you’re struggling with your weight. We cover nutrition in a lot more detail in our 6th Core Pillar of Running.

Poor sleep is linked to excess body fat, as a lack of good quality sleep can:
- Disrupt appetite regulation, making it difficult for your body to accurately control feelings of hunger and satiety, which can...
- Cause you to feel hungrier, and
- Lead to increased calorie intake

Conversely, increased body fat can also reduce sleep quality.

Next, the 4th area is that you find you’re getting sick a lot.

Lack of good quality sleep causes T-cells to go down and inflammation to go up which results in:
- Increased vulnerability to bacteria and viruses
- Increased risk of heart disease and other inflammation-related illnesses, and...
- Acute risk of getting sick

Finally, you find that you’re feeling unhappy. We cover this in more detail in our 7th Core Pillar of Running where we tackle mindset.

Along with the fresh neurotransmitters I mentioned earlier, sleep also regulates our hormone production. So, interference with these processes can result in an
- Impaired regulation of emotions
- Heightened stress
- Low mood, and...
- A possible increase in depression

If you are experiencing some or all of these then I would strongly recommend looking at improving your sleep routine and behaviours.

Sleep is by far the most important part of getting the recovery that your body needs, but as you can see from the areas we’ve just covered, it’s not just our recovery that it helps with.

In our BE Fit Coach Running Coaching programs, we focus on sleep as part of our “7 Core Pillars of Running” - with Pillar #5 being about getting adequate rest & recovery to be able to perform at your best.

And remember, if you are trying to lose weight, sleep also affects your metabolic processes. So getting enough sleep is a win-win really.

Next week, we’ll take a look at ways in which you can improve your sleep quality, so make sure you hit that follow button and sign up to our email list for the earliest notification of new blog posts. You’ll find a link in the description below this video.

So until next time, bye for now

How can BE Fit Coach help you?

We have a range of services that can ensure you are training optimally for you! We are all individuals, with unique and sometimes challenging lives, so choose a training solution that works with you, for you.

At BE Fit Coach, we are constantly working on developing new programs and courses. If you'd like to ensure you are kept up-to-date then I recommend joining our email list (below) as that is where all new announcements are made first!