How Important Is Sleep?
When you are a fitness professional, you get asked the same questions on a daily basis.  How do I add more muscle?  How do I burn more fat?  How do I lose more weight?  What sort of pre-workout supplement can I take? and so on.  I have never been asked how to sleep better though, so it prompted me to dive into the world of sleep to find out what benefits on exercise, if any, we are afforded.  Get your coffee and favorite chair ready, cuz here we go!

If You Don't Sleep You Die

"I love sleep.  My life has a tendency to fall apart when I'm awake, you know?"          -Ernest Hemmigway

In one study, researchers rigged a contraption that woke rats  up as soon as they fell asleep.  It took three weeks for the rats to die using this contraption.  Human beings actually suffer from two diseases, fatal familial insomnia, a mutation that causes progressively worse insomnia, and eventually death in a few months, and Morvan's syndrome, an autoimmune disease that destroys the potassium channels in the brain which leads to severe insomnia and eventually death as well.  Pulled an all nighter and plan on going about your day because "only the strong survive?"  Going 24 hours without sleep equates to the brain function after taking 3 shots of hard liquor.  You process slower, your reaction time diminishes, and you send your hormonal system into chaos.  

Sleep disorders add $16 billion dollars to national health care costs each year, and sleep deprived caused accidents in the workplace add another $134 billion.  Is sleep important?  HELL YES!  But why?  Sleep is important for two reasons:

1.  The brain clears up cellular garbage when you sleep.
2.  The body repairs itself while you sleep.

In the book A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy scientists built the greatest computer in the universe.  When they turned it on they asked the computer, "who is the greatest computer in the universe?"  And the computer responded, "The next computer you build."  The scientists were horrified because that is not what they expected to hear, but the computer was right.  You see, after a long day of trivial tasks, your brain is full of bits and pieces of information.  Some need to be organized and kept, some need to be thrown out.  Your brain is the best computer in the world...... tomorrow!  Not today.  If we don't sleep we eventually lose space to store new information.  When this happens our body begins to malfunction in the following ways:

• Problems regulating body heat.
• Immune system decline.
• Increase in stress hormones, and if stress becomes chronic your body will decrease the amount of gray matter in the brain that deals with rational thought.
• The hormone Ghrelin runs rampant stimulating your hunger to no end.
• Inflammation skyrockets.

As CrossFitters, if we are not sleeping enough, we are not helping our body release growth hormone and testosterone to repair the damage we did to our muscles.  So next time you try to train on 2 hours of sleep, know you are shrinking your brain, shrinking your muscles, and making yourself sick!

How much sleep do we need?

According to the National Sleep Foundation adults should get 7-9 hours of sleep, and children between the age of 10-17 should get 8.5-9.5 hours per night!  Oddly, for adults, sleeping more than 9 hours is related to increased risk of chronic disease, and a shorter life.  Check out these stats on sleep deprivation and performance:

• Max bench dropped 20 pounds after 4 days of restricted sleep.
• With proper sleep tennis players hit the ball 42% more accurate.
• Losing sleep equates to an 11% reduction in time to exhaustion.
• Perceived exertion increases 17-19% after losing a total of 30 hours of sleep(meaning exercise feels harder).

Lets face it, wodding is a little more demanding than tennis or your regular LA Fitness workout, so sleep, and getting enough sleep should be a huge priority, if not the number one priority!

How Do We Improve Our Sleep?There are several ways to improve sleep.  Some of them are cheap and easy to take advantage of.  Others are quite advanced, and require a hefty investment.  All have been proven to work.  I took the liberty of tracking down the best products to take the guess work out for you.  If you are interested in trying something out, click on the link to make a purchase.

1.  Magnesium Citrate - Magnesium has personally helped Jackie and I sleep better.  The harder you train, the more you lose, most people are deficient in it!  There are magnesiums pills I recommend, and a topical spray if you are not into taking pills.  Take 400-1,000mg a day.

Magnesium pills - http://amzn.to/1Hi4kMN

Magnesium Spray - http://amzn.to/1LYu7Qw

2.  Potassium Citrate - Potassium citrate is another mineral that becomes vacant in the body due to the crap food we eat that will cause restlessness when we sleep.  Take 400-500mgs with the magnesium before bedtime.  If you get a loose stool, back off and use a lower dose.

Potassium citrate Pills - http://amzn.to/1IS4ORc

3.  MCT Oil - This will work really well for you if food craving keep you awake, or if you wake up in the middle of the night feeling super hungry on occasion.  MCT oil can not be stored in the body so it gets burned slowly while you sleep regulating blood sugar.  Take two to three tablespoons before bed.

MCT Oil - http://amzn.to/1JZodub

4.  Melatonin - Melatonin is only released in the body when we sleep in a pitch black room.  Since most of us don't we do not produce enough to keep us sleeping.  Melatonin is most famous for being our natural anti-cancer drug.  Jackie and I take 5mg on MOST nights and it works like a charm.

Melatonin caps - http://amzn.to/1OXoouo

5. Binaural Beats - This works through brain wave entrainment, meaning it brings your brain wave frequencies into step with a specific frequency.  Anxiety is usually what keeps us up at night, worried about what happened that day, or what will happen tomorrow.  For 99 cents you can buy an mp3 that breaks you out of the anxiety frequency and into sleep mode.  This is not science fiction, it actually works!

Binaural beats - http://amzn.to/1IS8T87

Earth Pulse - Now for the biggie.  The earth emits a natural magnetic frequency that assists with our natural sleep cycle, our hormonal cycle, and our ability to naturally alleviate stress.  This is called grounding.  The problem is we wear shoes with rubber soles on them 90% of the day which disconnects us from the earth.  Then we can't fall asleep at night.  The earth pulse machine is placed under your bed and emits this frequency to help you sleep.  Every team on the Tour De France uses an earth pulse to recover faster, and sleep on grounding mats as well.  The only down side is these gadgets are pricey.  If you have the resources I highly recommend you buy it, there is a 90 day money back guarantee!

Earth pulse - http://amzn.to/1Hikhmb

That about wraps it up guys.  I really hope you take some of these things into consideration, and that it helps you live a fuller, richer life!



Reference:

1.  Greenfield, Ben.  Beyond Training: Mastering Endurance, Health & Life.  Victory Belt Publishing Apr. 2014. 480pp.

Chris Kidawski has been a Strength and Conditioning coach for the past 16 years.  He has coached and trained in almost all facets of the health and fitness industry, from physical therapy, to personal training in a global gym, to improving the performance of high school, collegiate, and professional athletes, and now owns and operates the #1 CrossFit facility in South Florida for Mobility with his wife, Jackie, CrossFit Kismet.  You can learn more about him by going to www.crossfitkismet.com, and you can sign up for his newsletter by going to http://crossfitkismet.com/contact-us/ and entering your e-mail with the subject line "Newsletter!"

www.iPerformanceCenter.com

There Are Ways to Stay Fit While You're at Work 


BY SCOTT RUSIN
 
Just because you’re sitting doesn’t mean you can’t be working out, says physical therapist Scott Rusin.

MATT BURKE


Your job demands long hours, and most of it is sitting behind a desk or sitting in meetings. Not to mention, you had to sit in your car and drive to and from work to later go home and sit down to eat dinner. You’re exhausted after and give in to any thought of exercise.

Be aware, your health is at risk. 

Alpa Patel’s 2010 study, “Leisure Time Spent Sitting in Relation to Total Mortality in a Prospective Cohort of U.S. Adults,” published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, found “a common link between physical inactivity and cardiovascular disease mortality even after adjusting for smoking, body mass index and other factors.”

Got your attention? Yes, sitting at a desk all day is now being compared to the mortality rates of those who smoke. Not to mention, the harmful effects on your posture, which leads to muscle imbalance and later back, neck and shoulder pain. The computer has provided physical therapists with job security because of the amount of people affected.

What to do? There are several things we can do, most of which won’t get you fired. You obviously will have a difficult time getting your boss to buy you a treadmill desk, so a cheaper alternative would be the DeskCycle Desk Exercise Bike Pedal Exerciser by DeskCycle (the long way of saying a bike that fits under your desk, or just the pedals). You can find it on Amazon for $150 — a small price to pay for your health.

Other options include taking short breaks and walking the staircase a couple times, going for a walk at lunch, doing cardio exercises in place (jumping jacks, jogging, mini-squats, etc.). Just close your office door!

Posture is also important. Prolonged sitting causes atrophy of your postural muscles and tightness of the large muscle groups that round your shoulders and tilt your pelvis forward, both of which are major contributors to upper and lower back pain. To improve neck and shoulder comfort, step into the door frame of your office, put your elbows on the frame at shoulder height, gently lean in and feel a stretch in your shoulders and chest (don’t stick your head out like E.T.), hold for 30 seconds at least three times twice during the day. 

You can also use a TheraBand. Grab it palms up with both hands at shoulder width and rotate your arms outward, maintaining a 90-degree bend at your elbow while squeezing your shoulder blades together. Do not use your upper traps (shrug) to compensate; squeeze your shoulder blades down and back for high repetitions greater than 30. 

TheraBands are great for your office, because they do not take up any space and can give you varying resistance to be effective with several exercises. No TheraBand? Sit back against the wall with your knees at 90 degrees and just hold for as long as you can — or just simply sit and stand from your chair until you fatigue.

It is easy to give in to the long hours, but you will find yourself more efficient at your job and at life if you get active. Take care of your body — it’s the only one you get!  

Scott Rusin is the director of physical therapy services at Sandestin Executive Health and Wellness Center in Miramar Beach. You can read more of his health tips at 850health.com or scottrusin.com and get more exercise tips by emailing him at [email protected].