Sleep & Exercise
In the fitness community, we’ve been tackling weight loss, sport performance, and overall health from all angles. Recently there has been evidence supporting a relationship between sleep and performance. Although the relationship is still interdependent on a couple of factors including genetics and geography, we’ve been able to extrapolate that sleep shouldn’t be neglected if we are to achieve anything from an improved quality of life to peak performance.
In an article from the CDC in 2016, 1 in 3 Americans aren’t getting enough sleep. (1) We’ve all been there, sleep deprived, groggy, and putting milk in the cupboard and cereal in our refrigerator. We generally laugh it off and grab a coffee on our way to work, but it doesn’t solve the problem. So what will? Scientists and doctors are trying to figure out a way to combat this issue, but with a multitude of variables, and a constantly changing world, there doesn’t seem to be a one size fits all cure for sleep deprivation.
Sleep is a foundational aspect of life, sitting up there with hydration, eating, and breathing. It’s difficult to say what effects each of these have on the human body, because it seems like the answer would be to create/foster life. I don’t think anyone is arguing that any of these isn’t necessary, and if so I’m sure their arguments don’t last long. Terrible jokes aside, I’ve had clients that neglected sleep consistently, and in most of those instances their performance in the gym was chronically subpar, not to mention their shirts were inside out or shorts were on backwards. For some, it was a matter of time before they saw the darker side of the consequences in regards to poor sleep.
Less than 7 hours of sleep is associated with increased risk of developing chronic conditions (1), some of which can prove to be fatal; heart disease, strokes, and diabetes to name a few. Sometimes clients give us push-back on our recommendations to go to a doctor, but I feel as fitness professionals we should be stricter on resolving the issue. From the client’s perspective, it can feel as if we would be penalizing them for trying to be healthy and trying to get a workout in at any cost, or punishing them for being honest about their sleep habits, but from ours it’s as if you’re taking one step forward and two steps back from a wellness perspective. The challenge is trying to bridge that gap and education with meaningful communication helps. I’ll talk a little bit more on some strategies you can implement in order to create a healthy dialogue on how to combat this issue.
The aforementioned increased risk of developing chronic conditions is one way that neglecting optimal sleep affects us, and there are some short term issues that arise as well. Studies and reviews have shown that sleep deprivation can lead to decreased cognitive function and lower the quality of memory (4). I tell my clients that there is a reason why sleep deprivation is a torture technique, it’s because it works. Poor sleep quality/quantity can lead to long term and short term health risks, with physical fitness being no exception. So does that mean to sleep instead of exercise? Obviously the answer to that depends on the situation, but there is some evidence that supports exercise being helpful for those that are chronically sleep deprived, and vice versa.
Now, before I sing the whole “movement is medicine” song, if you’re experiencing issues sleeping, or staying asleep speaking to a doctor will be the first thing to do. It’s easy to say try this or that, and then subsequently feel like a guru when something works, but the honest truth is that there are a lot of different reasons why people aren’t sleeping enough. Getting a sleep study done or consulting with your physician about sleep can be a game changer, because there might be a chronic disorder driving that dysfunction (i.e. insomnia, sleep apnea). The good thing is there are solutions, just finding the right one might take time.
Exercise seems to have a positive impact on sleepers, even with those who’ve been diagnosed with a sleeping disorder. Obstructive sleep apnea is common in obese populations (7), and exercise is now being considered as a tool to combat it, in addition to weight loss (2). Furthermore, moderate intensity resistance training and stretching can lead to better sleep in patients with insomnia. (5) Even relatively modest intensities and duration of exercise can benefit those who are inactive and have been diagnosed with insomnia (6).It seems to be that movement is the key factor, so the modality or style of training is less important than just setting time aside to move. Additionally, timing of exercise doesn’t seem to have as much of an effect compared to the actual difference of exercising in and of itself. (3) So even if you’re thinking you only have time right before you go to bed (within the hour), there’s a good chance you’ll feel the benefits from it. A great way to see if this works for you is to create a questionnaire for you to fill out after you wake up with basic questions to see if it’s working well for you. Simple questions that you can rate how you feel with numbers on a scale of 1-10 are a great way to gauge metrics overtime.
Exercising can help us get better quality of sleep, feel more rested, and more likely repeat the cycle. If you’re in an exercise and sleep funk, it might feel impossible to disrupt the cycle, but sometimes changing one or two things surrounding sleep can effectively create an opportunity for you to make some solid progress.
When having conversations with clients and colleagues about sleep, we come up with great ways to get better sleep. Installing “Blackout Curtains”, removing electronics from the bedroom, shutting down all electronics 1 hour before bedtime, and listening to white noise prior to sleep have all been effective strategies in their own right. Choosing one to start with is probably the best bet, just like with any other habit change. If we try to do too many things at once, the likelihood of failure increases. Also, there are some factors that we can’t control, like if you’re in an apartment that you share with roommates, it might be hard to turn off all electronics 1 hour before bedtime because someone might be watching television deep into the night. If that’s the case, probably making sure that you’re not on your phone in bed for hours will be the better more manageable option. A lot of smart phones and social media applications have timers in them as well to monitor and alert you once you’ve spent a certain amount of time on it, or at a certain time it’ll tell you when to put it down. Personally I have the weekly report of my cellphone screen time usage update me weekly, and I keep social media timers on my most frequently used apps. This holds me accountable to the things that I can change, and thus lowering my stress/anxiety about things that are out of my control. Sitting down and listing off some opportunities and taking the lowest hanging fruit is the best way to start.
Whether you’ve reached a plateau in your training, busting out P.R.s left and right, or going to the gym with your shirt inside out, checking in on your sleeping habits is something we should review and monitor. Creating time to sit down and assess your sleep just like your training program can have huge benefits, and it might not even take that long to see them. Speaking to your doctor if you’re experiencing any chronic disturbances in sleep is definitely the first step to better movement and quality of life.
Resources
1) 1 in 3 adults don't get enough sleep. (2016, February 16). Retrieved August 17, 2020, from https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2016/p0215-enough-sleep.html
2) D'Aurea, C., Poyares, D., Passos, G., Santana, M., Youngstedt, S., Souza, A., . . . De Mello, M. (2019). Effects of resistance exercise training and stretching on chronic insomnia. Retrieved August 17, 2020, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6781703/
3) Gaine, M., Chatterjee, S., & Abel, T. (2018, February 27). Sleep Deprivation and the Epigenome. Retrieved August 17, 2020, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5835037/
4) Hartescu, I., Morgan, K., & Stevinson, C. (2015, April 21). Increased physical activity improves sleep and mood outcomes in inactive people with insomnia: A randomized controlled trial. Retrieved August 17, 2020, from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jsr.12297
5) Kline, C., Crowley, E., Ewing, G., Burch, J., Blair, S., Durstine, J., . . . Youngstedt, S. (2011, December 1). The effect of exercise training on obstructive sleep apnea and sleep quality: A randomized controlled trial. Retrieved August 17, 2020, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3208839/
6) Schwartz, A., Patil, S., Laffan, A., Polotsky, V., Schneider, H., & Smith, P. (2008, February 15). Obesity and obstructive sleep apnea: Pathogenic mechanisms and therapeutic approaches. Retrieved August 17, 2020, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2645252/
7) Youngstedt, S., & Kline, C. (2006, August). Epidemiology of exercise and sleep. Retrieved August 17, 2020, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4217702/