Sleep and wellness/fitness are co-related. Although a good night’s sleep is vital to help us have enough energy to face the day, according to the CDC, over 30% of people don’t get enough sleep needed every night to remain healthy.
If you are serious about your wellness/fitness, skimping on sleep will not help your case. While you must still have energy left to work out even without a good night’s sleep, study shows that you are not okay as you need enough rest to remain healthy. Here is how sleep is connected to fitness/wellness
Quality Sleep Enhances Exercise
If you love working out, you must have noticed that your best performance in exercise happens after getting quality sleep. Whether you quantify your best performance based on the least strenuous or smoothest exercise, you can relate to the feeling of coming back home feeling relaxed and energized after a workout. That is what enough sleep offers you.
Studies have shown that quality sleep lasting over seven hours improves vigor, mood, reaction time, and athletic performance. If you work out daily, you need up to nine hours of sleep to allow your body to recover and be ready for more exercise.
Exercise Helps Improve Sleep
Research has shown [1] that moderate aerobic exercises improve how much slow-wave sleep you get. Slow-wave sleep is the deep sleep you experience to help your body and brain to rejuvenate. Light exercise also stabilizes your mood, which allows you to transition to sleep naturally.
However, you need to [2] time your exercise right to enjoy a good night’s sleep. Some people cannot get good sleep if they exercise too close to their bedtime. So, how does exercise affect your mind?
Exercise helps raise core body temperature- exercise feels like taking a hot shower in the morning. Once your core body temperature rises, it tells the body that it is time to wake up. However, after around 90 minutes, your core body temperature begins to fall, and its decline helps induce sleepiness.
Aerobic exercise helps release endorphins-these chemicals to help create some activity in people’s brains to help keep them awake. Such people should exercise at least one hour before their bedtime, which helps reduce the endorphin levels in their brains in time to sleep.
Should I Exercise Early in the Morning or Get More Morning Sleep?
Getting enough sleep and regular exercise are both vital. Since you need both, you shouldn’t prioritize one over the other. However, if you cannot balance the two every time, give enough sleep priority, unless you always get enough sleep.
So, if you enjoy up to eight hours of sleep, get up and enjoy some exercise. However, if you mostly sleep for less than six hours, consider getting an extra hour of sleep whenever you can. Skipping that might have you getting a subpar workout, which is no better.
If you rarely get the recommended hours of sleep (seven to eight), you should rethink your schedule to factor that in. figure out how to enjoy working out without sacrificing your sleep. If you cannot find that balance, don’t worry as [3] we will help you. With our coaching, you will enjoy better sleep, great workouts, and even better nutrition for overall well-being.