I understand that the average person requires 8-10 hours of sleep. This gives your body time to recover from training and other stresses of the day. Several factors can prevent getting the amount of sleep required, children, stress, insomnia, work, etc. Currently I am only sleeping between 5-6 hours of sleep. Sometimes less due to waking up to early before my alarm or taking to long to fall asleep. The thing is I never feel like I have a lack of energy or fatigued. But I do notice that I do seem to take a longer amount of time to show results from (strength) training. Could the lack of sleep be setting me back or should I not worry about it.
Osu, Yes, lack of sleep, not enough recovery time, improper food intake; all will affect your strength training. Osu!
I think my food intake is pretty good now =D. I'll try making myself sleep 8hrs a night and see what kind of results it will show.
I try to get about 10 hours sleep. I think its silly that doctors are saying thats too much (mine are anyway) but then again they aren't the ones the training day and night.
I slept for 12 hours the other day. Other than that, my sleeping hasn't been good. Sleep is an essential part of recovery.
It could be the lack of sleep that is holding you back. Below are two threads I wrote on sleep and entrainment which may help. http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93727 http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93777 In order to be successful with weight or strength training we have three things that are essential. 1. Training at the correct intensity. Undertraining won't cut it, however, overtraining is just as bad, maybe even worse. Overtraining can cause loss of appetite, loss of weight and poor sleep. 2. Nutrition. Is your nutrition good? After strength training your body is screaming out for fuel. Eat as soon as you can after training. In addition you body will be demanding fuel all through the next day. Regular caloric intake is the key and it is no good eating junk. That will not fuel the body. 3. Rest. Plan in rest days. Get a good nights sleep. All of the above are equally essential. 2 out of 3 is no good. One weak point will slow or stop all of the hard work put into other ares. I suggest taking a good look at each of these items and question where the problem may be. Generally we overtrain. Less is often more I find. Another thing worth knowing is your basic metabolic rate. Before you start packing on muscle the food you eat goes into maintaining your basic metabolic rate. Basic core temperature, teeth, hair, skin, nails, brain function etc all have to be taken care of before the body worries about your strength training. Hope that helps. One weak link = failure.
I don't recover if I don't get enough sleep. I notice I definitely recover during my sleep. One time I got up to let my cat out at about 6am and I was utterly raw all over from the microtrauma, then I fell asleep for another 4 hours and I felt ok. @Hapuka: With ya on the 'too much sleep' thing. I need about 10 too.
This is definately the case for us all. The first phase of sleep is the physical repair. So go to be at midnight instead of 10pm and you have already lost 2 hours of physical repair. The second phase of sleep is the psychological repair.
Lol, I suck at sleeping early. Even when I'm fairly wrecked I never fall asleep before about 11:30-midnight...
I just started working the night shift and i my sleeping habits are compete crap. I work 10pm to 6:30am, i get home and try to sleep from about 8am to 3pm. that gives me about 7 hours of sleep give or go and still have the evening to go out, go to the gym and train. But realistically i could get home from work and stay up til 3pm before feeling tired, or fall asleep right at 7am and sleep right in until 9pm missing my whole evening. Sometimes i wake up after 3 hours and i have so much energy, and other days i try getting up after 7 or 8 hours and my body is a total wreck. Stupid night shift
Working late or through a night really messes up my sleep pattern. If you aim to get to sleep by 8am I suggest trying to fool your body into thinking it is night time. Draw the curtains, try to stay away from TV , the PC and other light and electrical sources. Lay off of the caffeine for at least a few hours before sleep. This should trick your body into thinking it is night time. Cortisol production will stop and the sleep hormone melatonin will kick in. Any light, caffeine or TV will keep the cortisol levels high, which says to the body "wake up, time for work".
mhmm good idea. i do tend to jump on the computer for and hour or so before going to bed. That probably does not help. Also at around 4:30am i have a can of pop for that little bit of energy to finish the night. ( i used to drink alot of pop but have cut it down to only about one can at 4:30am. i dont drink coffee ) Thanks for the advice i'll try giving it a shot.
Well to make a long story short, I lived in a very isolated location for 20 years and have been having a tough time dealing with the 'real world' since coming back. I've lost 50-60 pounds, barely eat; I either sleep 14 hours a day or 2 depending on how long I'm at work. Out of 24 hours in the day, I sleep and work probably 21-22 hours, and do whatever the last 2-3 hours. My life is basically in the s%*thouse. But sleep for me is awesome, I'd rather sleep than do anything else.
Otataral, don't expect changes to happen overnight. Please check out the two links in my earlier posts in this thread. It takes 7 - 21 days to become entrained to a new pattern, so don't expect to sleep well tomorrow just by going to bed early today. @Kwajman, very honest there sir. Sanctuary in sleep, where no one can get you and your thoughts are your own.
According to the good professionals and doctors, a normal person have to use the 8 hours of sleep to be fit and smart in every respect of the fitness and mental relaxation.
