Summer Days & Nights: All About Sleep
As summer approaches and the sun stays out longer - and the mornings see daylight sooner - it can be challenging to stay in (or start) a consistent rhythm for getting enough sleep. I think most of us know that proper sleep is necessary for a healthy lifestyle but many of us (myself included) struggle with how to implement strategies that can increase sleep quality and quantity. We may not even fully realize how important sleep is to so many other aspects of our life (body composition, hormonal balance, etc.).
The good folks at Precision Nutrition published an article titled "All About Sleep" which is a helpful piece covering several of the critical aspects of shut-eye, and some recommendations for increasing the quality and quantity of your sleep. You can read the full article by clicking here, and we've included the intro below - it's a quick, informative, and useful read... and definitely worth 5 minutes of your time!
People will go to great lengths to ensure that they have a smart and well structured exercise program, nutritional plan and supplementation regimen. Yet they often forget about or abandon their sleep and sleep quality.
Sleep is essential to health and survival. Even if you don’t eat very well, you can still expect to live around 75 years. But if you don’t sleep, you’ll likely check out in a couple of weeks — the Guinness World Record for sleep deprivation is 11 days. (For more reading on this, check out Scientific American: How Long Can Humans Stay Awake?)
Most of you aren’t going to try to break that record any time soon, even though medical students and parents of newborns might feel as though they are inadvertently trying. But even if you meet the basic requirement for sleep, are you sleeping optimally? And if not, what does poor sleep quality do to your body composition and eating habits? Are late nights in front of the TV, computer, or fridge leaving people fatigued, overfed, and with little ability to make nutritious food choices each day?
-Ryan Andrews (Precision Nutrition)
WOD for 05-11-17:
In Teams of Three...
3 Rounds For Time:
50 Deadlifts @ 225/155 lbs
70 Box Jumps @ 24/20 in
90 Calorie Row*
*One athlete MUST be in a static deadlift hold at the top of lock-out (hips and knees extended) in order for another athlete to accumulate row calories. If the static deadlift bar drops the row MUST STOP immediately and cannot resume until a deadlift bar is once again at the top of lock-out.
The reps for all three movements are shared, with one athlete working at a time (not including the athlete holding the static deadlift during the row).
(Compare to 07-30-16)