It’s the end of another long day at work after a sleepless night. As usual, you’re exhausted, but you want to stop at the gym on the way home to do the exercises you need to take care of your health.
Should you exercise when you are chronically sleep deprived? This dilemma is a widespread problem, considering that one in three Americans suffers from sleep deprivation, according to the CDC, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“It’s a two-way street, not one or the other,” said Phyllis Zee, director of the Center for Sleep Medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.
“First, there is clear data showing that regular exercise improves sleep quality — moderate exercise in the morning, afternoon or early evening can improve deep sleep,” Zee said.
Deep sleep is the stage where the body repairs and restores itself. Also called “slow-wave” sleep, it can only be achieved if the quality of sleep is good, with little or no nighttime interruptions.
“Research also confirms that if you sleep better, you are more likely to exercise and your physical activity levels are higher,” added Zee.
“So even if you had a bad night’s sleep, you should stick to your physical activity routine.”
The need for quality sleep
To stay healthy, the body needs to go through four stages of sleep over and over again during the night. In the first and second stages, the body begins to slow down. This prepares us for the third stage—deep, slow-wave sleep, where the body is literally repairing itself at the cellular level, correcting the damage caused by the day’s wear and tear and consolidating memories into long-term storage.
REM (rapid eye movement) sleep is the final stage, in which we dream. Studies have shown that a lack of REM sleep can cause memory deficits and poor cognitive outcomes, as well as heart disease, other chronic illnesses and early death.
On the other hand, years of research have found that sleep, especially the deepest kind, boosts immune function.
Since each sleep cycle is about 90 minutes long, most adults need seven to eight hours of relatively uninterrupted sleep to get restorative sleep and stay healthy, according to the CDC. Lack of sleep, along with irregular sleep duration, has been linked to an increased risk of obesity, heart disease, dementia, and mood disorders such as anxiety and depression.
Be careful with injuries
A poor night’s sleep shouldn’t impact your exercise routine, but chronic sleep deprivation that causes days of tiredness is another issue, experts say.
It’s not a good idea to hit the gym or play a sport when you can barely stand, said sleep expert Raj Dasgupta, associate professor of clinical medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California.
“Without sleep, your muscles cannot recover from the stress they experience during training. It doesn’t do much good to keep pushing the muscles without giving them time to recover and get stronger,” warned Dasgupta.
Plus, you’re more likely to get injured if you’re exhausted, he explained, due to the slower reaction time of a tired brain trying to make decisions during training.
“Not getting enough sleep can also affect your motivation to exercise. You can find yourself hating your workouts and hating every minute in the gym, which doesn’t help with sticking to a long-term physical activity practice,” commented Dasgupta.
Furthermore, sleep deprivation can lead you to make poor food choices that can affect your physical performance, he added.
use common sense
Therefore, it is not worth doing physical exercises when you are extremely tired, but if you do, you will also sleep better and get more benefits from physical activity. So what to do?
Use common sense, Zee said. “If you’re not sleeping well, don’t do that intense workout. Instead, walk or do yoga, but stick to an exercise regimen at the time of day you would normally do it.”
If you’re short on time, consider fitting in several short training periods throughout the day.
“Everything counts,” said Dasgupta. “Do whatever makes you feel happy and refreshed. The important thing is to do something meaningful for yourself, not just any kind of exercise out of obligation.”
Source: CNN Brasil
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