Sleep Rules!

by Coach Rachel

Tis the season for…

Burning the candle at both ends!

Going to parties: eating, drinking and staying up past your bedtime!

Staying up late to wrap presents!

What gets lost in the shuffle? SLEEP.

Sleep is important. Obviously brain function is decreased with missing sleep. But how smart do you really need to be? The real reason sleep matters is because all of the good hormones and growth factors that are released during the deep sleep. This is your body’s time of peak anabolic activity (build muscle, burn fat, repair tissues, etc.) and occurs throughout the night but with diminishing efficacy.

If you aren’t getting enough of this deep, quality sleep, chances are you aren’t optimizing recovery or performance. You are in fact creating stress hormones that are trying to kill you. And you Facebook and Crossfit.com addicts, I’m talking to you.

Your body treats lack of sleep like a direct stressor, the same as starving, or being chased by a lion. So quit being so careless about your late nights and crappy sleep.

The goal is to get as much deep sleep as possible. To this end, here are a few sleep hygiene guidelines.

1) Try to go to sleep at the same time every night.

2) Avoid coffee and alcohol before bed.

3) Sleep in the blackest, darkest room possible.

4) Sleep in a cool room.

5) Treat your sleep as importantly as you treat your workouts and nutrition.

Think of sleep as recovery. And recovery completes the exercise and nutrition trifecta.

Mission:

Keep a sleep journal for a week. Track hours slept/bed time/awake time/ and note when and how much caffeine/alcohol was consumed before sleep. Also note how your performance was during the day. See any patterns? Are you trashed by the weekend? How much “blue time” are you serious about getting in the chart above?

Sleep rules!