Poor sleep affects fitness and wellness more than people might think. Not sleeping enough – less than seven hours per night – can reduce or even undo the benefits of dieting. A lack of sleep makes you feel tired and groggy, and it does the same thing to your fat cells.

This is called  “Metabolic Grogginess” and it makes your body less effective at breaking down fatty tissues. In fact, those who regularly sleep for less than six hours per night are 30% more likely to become obese than those who sleep between seven and nine hours.

Sleeping better also makes it easier to eat healthily. If you're sleep-deprived, your brain gets more excited when it sees high-calorie food (we’ve all been there!). And of course, the more tired you are, the more likely you are to give in to temptation (we’ve all been there too!). But, if you sleep well, suddenly those unhealthy snacks aren’t as appealing.

And it’s not just weight. If you don’t sleep properly your general appearance can take a hit as well. Bags under our eyes and looking pale are just a couple of the appearance issues people talk about when listing the effects of poor sleep. So getting one’s “beauty sleep” isn’t just something your mum used to say, she was in fact right.               

If you are exercising regularly and eating well but still find you are not reaching your goals for weight loss then maybe lack of quality sleep is key.

At The Insomnia Clinic we help people to understand and improve their poor sleep which in turn improves daytime functioning, physical and mental health.