This is a sponsored post.

I noticed something over the past year and a half…since having The Baby, actually. The less sleep I get, the less weight I lose…or the more I gain. I never paid much attention, honestly. That is, until The Baby started sleeping through the night.

Suddenly, the weight started to come off. I dropped 15 pounds and didn’t change a thing. Except the fact that I was able to sleep a full 8 hours. I know this because I sleep with an Activity & Sleep Tracker. Because I’m awesome.

It honestly didn’t occur to me that sleep was the reason. I mean, I was eating well, exercising, stretching…doing everything we’re supposed to do to be healthy. So why should I consider a full night’s sleep as the reason I was suddenly fitting into my smaller pants?

And then The Baby started cutting teeth, which meant he was up and down at night (obviously I was as well). And I gained weight. I was still exercising-albeit not as much, because I was exhausted from being up and down all night, sure. But I was still eating healthy. So what the heck? I cleaned up my diet even more, upped my workouts, added in some extra squats, and started using my TRX on a daily basis.

The scale wouldn’t budge…until I broke my leg. Suddenly, I started to lose weight again. Weird, right? Except that it’s not!

I started doing some research about sleep, and it turns out that there’s a reason we really do need 8+ hours as adults.

Growth Hormone

Your body produces growth hormone while you sleep. This is why brand new babies often sleep a ton for the first few months-their bodies are constantly growing. If you do a killer workout, and you don’t sleep you’re doing yourself a huge disservice.

Often as adults, we discount the fact that our bodies actually build and repair during sleep…that’s just for kids, right? We’re not getting taller, so we don’t need to worry about that. Right. We do-because although I’ll forever be 5 foot 3.5 inches tall (5 foot 4 inches on a good day), as I exercise, my muscles get tiny tears in them that need repair-which requires growth hormone.

Which means I need sleep. Adequate sleep.

Cortisol

Did you know that not getting enough sleep can seriously stress you out? Cortisol is our body’s stress hormone…and when we get less than 6 hours of sleep, we actually produce more cortisol…which is not a good thing if our goal is to get skinny…er, healthy.

Insulin Resistance

Insulin is how your body processes sugar-and when we don’t get enough sleep (anything less than 6 hours, actually), our bodies have a hard time with insulin resistance, which can lead to Type II Diabetes. Not good.

Injury

If you’re tired, you aren’t going to perform your best-whah can lead to injury. Not something you want if you are training. Trust me on this one. Breaking my leg happened because:

1. I’m dumb, and
2. I was exhausted and probably should have skipped that practice. Just being honest here.

So how can we make sure we get enough sleep?

First, we need to make sure that we’re actually getting our rear ends in bed at a reasonable hour. That means no more staying up until midnight for me. I do best with at least 8 hours of sleep-which means that I need to get myself in bed by 10:00 p.m. Because my children wake up at dawn.

But what happens when you go to bed and you toss and turn?

Get Quality Sleep to Slim Down

Seriously. It’s really not that hard. In fact, if you do just two things, you’ll be well on your way to building a better body, and getting better sleep.

Clean Your Bedroom

Studies have shown that you and I will both sleep better if our bed is in order and our bedroom is clean. I make it a point to make my bed every morning. It takes all of 10 seconds, and instantly makes me smile. It also makes my room look much more organized.

It also pays to actually wash your sheets each week and put away your clothes right away. Keep your bedroom clean to help yourself relax at night (I can’t be the only one who sees a full laundry basket and has a panic attack, right?).

Invest in a High Quality Pillow

For years, I slept on a pillow from a big box store that shall remain nameless. I’m allergic to feathers, so I was using a polyfill monstrosity. I would wake up multiple times each night to try and adjust my pillow to get comfortable.

I thought I had to suffer-everyone said I should try a feather pillow. But again, allergies. And then I discovered memory foam. Holy cow, y’all. Where had this genius invention been all my life?

I admit, I was skeptical. Hubby and I stayed at a friend’s house years ago and she had a {cheap} memory foam bed that made every single joint scream in pain the next morning-not to mention I was sweating a ton all night. So naturally, I assumed all memory foam was awful.

How wrong I was!

With the right memory foam pillow, you can actually get really awesome sleep! A quality memory foam pillow should encourage sleep, not hinder it. If you’re like me, there are a few qualifications:

• A cool sleep surface
• Adjustable
• Allergy-friendly
• Moisture resistant (my kids also use my pillow…and they drool!)

I was thrilled to discover REM-Fit Rest, which meets all of my requirements! It has this really cool microfiber filling that you can remove to adjust the firmness-which for me is essential. I prefer a softer pillow, and if you’ve ever slept on memory foam, you know that they aren’t super squishy.

Thankfully, removing most of the Support Clusters fixed that for me, and I was left with a super soft and cool (YAY!) sleep surface. The first night I used my new pillow, I slept for 9 hours with only one wake up (according to my REM-Fit Active Sleep & Activity Tracker). The rest of the week was similar. And I’m down 2 pounds.

Which is awesome. And it proves my point (#winning).

What do you do to ensure that you get enough sleep?

I received a REM-Fit Activity Tracker & Pillow in exchange for this review.