Sleep
It affects so many different aspects of our lives; from our nervous system regulation, to our recovery ability, to our appetite; there aren’t many areas of our everyday that aren’t impacted by our sleep quality.
Sleep is where we offload the cognitive and physical demands of the day, restoring our capacity for the next day.[1]
And you’ve probably felt that feeling when you wake up from a great night of sleep, and you know that it will have a positive influence on your day. But so often we sacrifice sleep to catch up with work, life admin, housework, scrolling or watching TV at the end of the day. And there are also unavoidable interruptions to our sleep: care giving, shift working and health considerations that will all heavily impact your sleep quality.
We completely understand that it can feel really frustrating to have your sleep affected by your health, hormones, caregiving commitments or work schedule. The best any of us can do is to control the variables that are within our control; so that we make the most of the sleep we CANget.
How much sleep should I be aiming for?
Most us will do fairly well on 7-9 hours, but as with everything, it is an individual dose response- trial and error is really the only way to find out. Personally, I tend to need 9+ hours to feel rested, whereas Lewis would be happy with 7.5-8 hours. So taking the time to get to know what feels best for you at this phase of your life can be helpful.
We would suggest though, that if you consistently have fewer than 7 hours sleep, and you have some control over your sleep habits… that this should become the next area of focus for you [even above nutrition and training]. Because sleep really does underpin our lives, and chronic lack of sleep can have a huge impact on both your physical health and mental/emotional wellbeing.
How do I know if I’m getting enough sleep?
*How do you feel when you wake up?
*What are you general energy levels through out the day like?
*How well do you get over/recover from your exercise routine and tasks of daily living?
If the answers to the above questions are all positive, then you’re probably getting enough sleep for you right now. But if you’re still not sure, or you already know that sleep is an area for improvement for you (because you’re consistently getting less than 7 hours…) then you could trial some changes to your habits around your sleep hygiene to see if they make a positive impact for you. We’ve outlined a few sleep habits which might be helpful to think about.
Consistent bedtime & wake times– be as reasonably consistent with your bedtime and wake times as your life allows; this will encourage your circadian rhythm to be much more predictable, and your body will register that this is the time we sleep or wake. If you are in the position to allow yourself to wake naturally, and avoid an alarm, that might also prove supportive of being more ready at wake time. BUT for most of us, the demands of our lives necessitate the use of alarms, and so making sure we have adequate hours in bed will be the best approach. And if you know that your bedtime is currently too late, in relation to your necessary wake time, consider gradually shifting your bedtime earlier.
Going from 11pm bedtime straight to trying to go to bed at 9pm, will probably be a struggle, but shifting week by week by 15mins might be a more successful approach.
“And just to say, that as parents of young boys whilst trying yo run a business and maintain some semblance of order in our household… we totally understand that for many people, the hours at the end of the day can feel sacred. Time that you might have to yourself, to do whatever you want (even if that is watching your fave tv show). And so it is of course your choice, to strike the balance between whether your body and mind will benefit more from the freedom to do as you wish with your evening OR get more sleep. We would suggest that improved sleep quality and quantity is worth a shot, and you may notice significant improvements in other areas of your life as a result.”
Allow yourself a decent sleep opportunity- give yourself more hours in bed than sleep you need (as unless you are just like Lewis you will probably not fall asleep within 5 seconds of your head hitting the pillow and sleep all the way through without disruption). We all experience wake ups through the night, some are short enough that we don’t notice them, but being in bed long enough to allow for these will minimise their impact on your overall sleep time.
Optimise your sleep environment- a cool, dark room with an appropriately comfortable bed- even consider the fabric of your bedclothes as this can be something overlooked. Add as many pillows or aids as you need to make yourself comfy! I use at least 3 pillows every night.
Consumption- limit fluid intake in the hours closer to bedtime to minimise night time urination. If you can, have your final main meal 2-3 hours before you sleep as digestion can interfere with sleep quality. And just be aware that caffeine and alcohol will both impact your sleep- perhaps aim to have final caffeine hit around 10 hours before you want to sleep, and limit alcohol intake whenever possible.
Mentally offload- many of us will struggle to ‘switch off’ mentally, I know that when I lay in bed, its often the first part of the day where I have been quiet and left alone with my thoughts. So my brain goes into overdrive! Writing things down, journalling, or creating to-do lists may calm the brain before you ask it to sleep. You could try out tools for meditation, there are all kinds of ways that this can look:
-Some apps provide guided meditations,
-Or a practice like yoga might feel good for you,
-Or just some focus on your own breathing could help to ground you, and create space between you and the stressors of your day before attempting to sleep.
Reduce unnecessary screen time and get outdoors more- sometimes our jobs and life demand us to use screens, but reducing the non-essential screen time (especially in the hours before bed) and trying to get outdoors for more natural daylight can support your circadian rhythm and prepare your body for sleep at a reasonable time. If you do want to use screens prior to bed, consider using a form of ‘night mode’ to reduce the brightness and stimulation of our brain so close to bedtime. AND if you wake in the middle of the night, avoid looking at your phone (yes even glancing at it to check the time) as this won’t be conducive to falling asleep easily again.
How you might approach training
if you are UNDER-slept:
- Adjust expectations- know that sometimes, when you are under slept this can result in reduced performance, so being aware of that and managing what you expect of yourself is really helpful to maintain a positive outlook in training.
- Adjust intensity- instead of pushing yourself for progress today, reduce the demand on a fatigued system to allow it to recover to support it for progress over the long term.
- Adjust volume- fewer sets and or reps. We don’t think many people would mind this one anyway!
- Continue to keep movement as part of your routine, it might be that you switch around different styles of training to align with your level of fatigue.
- Your coach should be supporting you to manage the above, to make sure that you are continuing to enjoy the process of training and making long term progress, even when you’re more fatigued.