Are you going to the gym regularly, eating better than before, and even paying attention to staying hydrated, yet STILL not seeing the results fast enough? This can be a very frustrating issue for many people, myself included. If this is the case for you, here's my next question: are you sleeping enough? Interestingly, there is overwhelming evidence showing that sleep may be the missing factor for many people who are struggling to lose weight.

This may be an interesting concept for some people, but think about it; when does your body naturally repair itself? When you are sleeping is the time your body resets itself from the day, preparing you for the following day. Without proper sleep, you are depriving your body and brain of more than you may realize.

The average adult should be getting around 7 hours of sleep a night to function properly, but unfortunately, the majority of adults are not fulfilling this. So what exactly happens when you miss out on these crucial hours?

Studies show that lack of sleep increases the likelihood of obesity in adults by 55%. When someone does not get adequate sleep, the body confuses its production of the hunger hormones, ghrelin, and leptin. Ghrelin is a hormone released in the stomach that signals hunger in the brain, while leptin is a hormone released from fat cells. It suppresses hunger and signals fullness in the brain. When your body is low on sleep, it increases the levels of ghrelin released and decreases levels of leptin.

Sleep is known to help you fight cravings and make healthier choices. When you aren't sleeping enough it affects the frontal lobe, which is the decision-making portion of your brain. Lack of sleep will increase your cravings for foods high in calories, fat, and carbs.

Poor sleep is also tied to decreasing your resting metabolic rate. This is essentially the number of calories your body naturally burns without being physically active. This can be determined by a number of factors such as age, gender, activity level, as well as muscle mass. Muscles repair during your sleep, so lack of sleep will decrease your muscle mass and in turn, decrease your resting metabolic rate as well.

There are multiple other factors that can be affected as a result of lack of sleep such as lowered insulin resistance and decrease in physical activity, but the general consensus agrees that sleep is a very pivotal factor for one's daily activity, especially those with fitness goals concerning weight loss or muscle growth.

So, next time you try to restrict your calories further or grab a heavier weight in the gym to try to fix the problem, consider how much sleep you are getting at night. This could be the answer to the problem.