I am a fitness coach & I will be the first to tell you that quality sleep comes BEFORE your workout schedule.
No need to feel guilty for over-sleeping on days you intended to hit the workout.
Today’s blog helps put it in perspective so you can build a solid foundation no matter WHAT your health goal is. Especially if it’s weight loss or building lean muscle.
Consider sleep the base for which everything else in your life is built upon - food, fitness, family, career. Sleep comes first so you can handle whatever life throws at you with resiliency.
- Sleep deprivation equates to poor decision making. Not just with your nutrition, but also with your family life, while at work & any attempt to keep workouts in your life.
- Your metabolism will slow down to conserve energy from lack of sleep. This is not very helpful when you have weight loss goals & health issues.
- Skimping on sleep effects brain chemistry & cognitive function and contributes to hormone imbalances (see #1 & #2)
- When you aren’t well-rested you will lose patience & effect the relationships in your life in a negative way.
- Sleep is NOT a lazy, do-nothing activity. On the contrary! it is THE MOST active your body can be because it is a stage when rest, rebuilding, repair, & cell rejuvenation takes place. Without sleep the body just further breaks down. That doesn’t make sense when you workout to BUILD UP.
If you are aware of these things and know how important sleep IS, you just can’t seem to fall asleep or stay asleep, then I recommend this:
- Get your hormones checked. Cortisol could be elevated later in the day causing you to stay alert & ready to react, rather than chilling out, ready for sleep. Check out this saliva test you can have done from home.
- Install f.lux onto your computer. It knows your time zone & will adjust your device from bright blue/white to a yellowish orange. It’s much softer on the eyes & can allow your brain to transition to nighttime.
- If you are concerned about working out vs getting sleep, sleep comes first. Even if that means you can only add on an extra 15 minutes at a time until you build up to a consistent 8 hours (or the amount your body needs. remember, the MORE you workout, the MORE sleep you need to recover & repair those muscles - including your heart muscle!
- Incorporate a new evening ritual. Try yoga or meditation before bed as a way to ease your mind & body for complete rest.
