Sleep

Sleep

We love it. At least as adults we do. And we all need it. But some of us need to get more.

Let's say you work out (which you do). The basic truth is that you may spend an hour in the gym each day, but it's the 23 hours spent recovering where you make actual gains in your fitness. Pretty simple: you work and your body adapts. Due to a breakdown of the muscle by placing it under load, the body rebuilds to resist future stress. During recovery, there are a series of natural body responses to any "work" that has recently been completed; growth occurs both with your muscle cells and connecting tissues but also with your central nervous and endocrine systems. Specifically, there are multiple hormone responses that trigger strength gains and cardiovascular adaptations.

This "work" that is so important (widely accepted in the fitness world as overload) needs to be followed up with recovery.

This is where sleep comes in. Sleep is the time where lots of learning takes place (as well as those heinous nightmares, you freak), but it's also the time to recuperate from the day. And where benefits can be made from the workout(s) you completed.

So... how much sleep is necessary? Are we getting the right amounts? And what about naps???

The average adult sleeps less than 7 hours per night. In today’s fast-paced society, 6 or 7 hours of sleep may sound pretty good. In reality, it’s might be a recipe for chronic sleep deprivation.

Average Sleep Needs
Age	Hours
Newborns (0-2 months)	12 - 18
Infants (3 months to 1 year)	14 - 15
Toddlers (1 to 3 years)	12 - 14
Preschoolers (3 to 5 years)	11 - 13
School-aged children (5 to 12 years)	10 - 11
Teens and preteens (12 to 18 years)	8.5 - 10
Adults (18+)	7.5 - 9

While sleep requirements vary from person to person, most healthy adults need between 7.5 to 9 hours of sleep per night to function at their best. Children and teens need even more. And despite the notion that our sleep needs decrease with age, older people still need at least 7.5 to 8 hours of sleep. Since older adults often have trouble sleeping this long at night, daytime naps can help fill in the gap.

Common Myths About Sleep (From the National Institutes of Health)

Myth 1: Getting just 1 hour less sleep per night won’t affect your daytime functioning. You may not be noticeably sleepy during the day. But even slightly less sleep can affect your ability to think properly and respond quickly, and compromise your cardiovascular health, energy balance, and ability to fight infections.

Myth 2: Extra sleep at night can cure you of problems with excessive daytime fatigue. Not only is the quantity of sleep important but also the quality of sleep. Some people sleep 8 or 9 hours a night but don’t feel well rested when they wake up because the quality of their sleep is poor.

Myth 3: You can make up for lost sleep during the week by sleeping more on the weekends. Although this sleeping pattern will help relieve part of a sleep debt, it will not completely make up for the lack of sleep. Sleeping later on the weekends can affect your sleep-wake cycle so that it is much harder to go to sleep at the right time on Sunday nights and get up early on Monday mornings.

As for naps?

Good reads on our internet machine....

HERE: http://artofmanliness.com/2011/02/07/unleash-the-power-of-the-nap/

HERE: http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/sleep-topics/napping

And HERE: http://michaelhyatt.com/why-you-should-take-a-nap-every-day.html

Let me know if you find more. Napping feels awesome. But will it mess up your sleep cycle? Maybe. Gotta figure out if it's necessary and beneficial to you. If not, skip it, and set up a consistent nighttime pattern. See, there's inherent stages of sleep that need to take place overnight for full recovery to occur. This also matches up with our dream sequences, in case you were intrigued.

So. Sleeping.

It's about figuring out what you can fit into your busy schedule (we all have one) and recover from the day... for our purpose here, the workouts you've done each day/week. If you value your fitness, which you do-- it's why you're here, afterall, then you'll consider setting up a consistent schedule that allows you the most recovery from all the hard work you're putting in weekly at the gym.

Sleep right and benefit.

-Scott, 7.16.2012

Water

Water

By now in life, this should almost go without saying:  Drink water.  Common sense, right?  It’s the most essential nutrient.  It’s the basis of all life, and what allows organisms on any level to thrive.  It’s even what NASA sent the Mars Phoenix Lander to find.  And what did it find?  Little green men of course.

So, what to do about your water intake?

We often hear that the general rule is 8 glasses of water a day.  But recently I have been told that people should consume, at the minimum, one ounce per pound of bodyweight. So if you weigh 100 pounds, then 100 ounces is your goal each day.  In this example, that ends up at about 12 8oz glasses per day. However, humans sometimes need to drink more to account for any workouts or sweating each day (think hot, summer days).

I have also heard that your body can absorb water though different mediums more efficiently than just plain liquid H2O at times. Juice, coffee, tea, even carbonated drinks… however we know that too much of any of those can create other issues and dehydration itself.

Finally, some sources weigh in that when you drink one glass of coffee, tea, or soda then you need two additional glasses of water to account for the caffeine intake or the carbonation.

Confusing?  I thought so.

Let’s check the (somewhat inconsistent) recommendations:

Mayo Clinic: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/water/NU00283 “Water is your body's principal chemical component and makes up about 60 percent of your body weight. Every system in your body depends on water. For example, water flushes toxins out of vital organs, carries nutrients to your cells and provides a moist environment for ear, nose and throat tissues. Lack of water can lead to dehydration, a condition that occurs when you don't have enough water in your body to carry out normal functions. Even mild dehydration can drain your energy and make you tired.”

Whole 9: http://whole9life.com/2010/08/replenishment-drinks “Unless you’re doing long, nonstop competitions like triathlons or marathons (where you certainly need to rehydrate during the event), there’s simply no justification for substituting a supplement for real food and water.  Trust us on this – you do not need to provide electrolytes to your body during a typical CrossFit workout.  Shoot, during a high intensity 'Fran' or 'Grace,' you don’t need to stop to provide water to your body.”

Mark’s Daily Apple: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/8-glasses-of-water-a-day/#axzz1ySXrOdR5 “Contrary to what your neighbor might advise you, there is no evidence that drinking eight or more glasses prevents constipation, kidney stones, bladder cancer, urinary tract infections or that it guarantees you’ll have clear skin and a toxic-free liver.”

So, what sense to make of the hydration issue?

Drink water.  Drink when you’re thirsty.  And drink before and after your workouts.  Over-hydrating will not produce any benefits, just as that drained, dehydrated feeling will cause negative performance issues and more importantly increase the dreaded fatigue some of us feel throughout the day.  (Causing us to reach for more caffeine.)  Just make sure to check your water source.

Nothing groundbreaking here, it seems.  But at least we find out that in general we're on the right track in regards to hydration. And if for some reason you weren’t, get your act together and you'll see a difference.

-Scott, 6.25.2012