“When you really, really need to sleep the best thing to do is sleep and to sacrifice [exercise] then,” says Tim Olds, a professor of health sciences at the University of South Australia. “The benefits of physical activity are reasonably durable ... missing a day or two of physical activity is not so bad.”
Plus, your workouts just won't be as effective when you're dragging. All this is to say that cutting out the sleep we need in order to exercise may do more harm than good when it comes to your health goals. So if you're not currently getting 7-8 hours of sleep at night, make that the priority first.
Another 2013 study found that just trading 30 minutes of sleep with 30 minutes of moderate or vigorous physical activity can lead to improvements in cardiovascular health. Can't you spare 30 minutes? Pro: You might give your body much-needed recovery time.
Sleeping beyond the 90-minute cycle may mean you fall deeper into your sleep cycle and will find it much harder to wake up. The best answer to this question is that some sleep is always better than none. Trying to get in a power nap or achieving that full 90-minute cycle is better for you than no sleep at all.
But sleep is as important for good health as diet and exercise. Good sleep improves your brain performance, mood, and health. Not getting enough quality sleep regularly raises the risk of many diseases and disorders. These range from heart disease and stroke to obesity and dementia.
When you sleep too much, you're throwing off that biological clock, and it starts telling the cells a different story than what they're actually experiencing, inducing a sense of fatigue. You might be crawling out of bed at 11am, but your cells started using their energy cycle at seven.
Advice from a sleep doctor:
“If you're getting eight hours of sleep and still feeling tired each day, you may need more rest than that. Eight hours is a good starting point, but we all need a different amount of sleep. Try heading to bed a little earlier than usual and seeing how you feel.”
If you or a loved one feel sleepy or fatigued, despite having 7-8 hours of sleep, it could indicate poor sleep quality or be a sign of an underlying sleep disorder. If you have questions or concerns about your sleep health, please speak with your primary care provider.
It could be due to poor sleep quality, lifestyle factors such as stress, poor diet, lack of exercise or an underlying health condition. It is also possible that you may not be getting enough deep sleep or REM sleep, which can leave you feeling tired even after a full night's sleep.
Sleep needs can vary from person to person, but in general, experts recommend that healthy adults get an average of 7 to 9 hours per night of shuteye. If you regularly need more than 8 or 9 hours of sleep per night to feel rested, it might be a sign of an underlying problem, Polotsky says.
And while the occasional long sleep is generally nothing to worry about, oversleeping several days a week could be a sign that something more serious is going on.
Tackling your sleep when you're burnt out will help to:
Give you the physical energy for any other changes you want. Help to rest and recover from mental exhaustion. Add a consistency to your day that you can build self care around. Help you feel in control in something meaningful in your day.
One night of poor sleep shouldn't have to impact your workout routine, but chronic sleep deprivation leading to multiple days of exhaustion is another matter, experts say. It may not be wise to hit the gym or play a sport when you're barely putting one foot in front of the other, said sleep specialist Dr.
Non-restorative sleep occurs when you spend enough time resting but you still wake up feeling tired. Many different factors could lead to low-quality sleep. Sometimes non-restorative sleep occurs with other sleep conditions like insomnia, restless leg syndrome, or narcolepsy.
“Women are also multi-taskers, and they do a lot at once. Because they use more of their actual brain, they may need a little bit more sleep than men. It is still debatable, but some experts say that women need twenty more minutes on average than men usually need.”
While women do not innately need more sleep than men, there are some reasons why women may need a little extra sleep or may be at higher risk for not meeting some of their sleep needs. These factors include things like hormones, menstruation, pregnancy, and social factors.
It's recommended that adults get between 7 and 9 hours of sleep per night. But Dr. Lance suggests finding the total amount of sleep that works for you. So, 7-1/2 hours might work for you while your partner may need 9 hours.
In fact, there can be many underlying reasons why you feel so fatigued, including nutrient deficiency, high stress and anxiety levels, hormonal imbalance, and other medical conditions. By implementing these three takeaways, you are a step closer to getting the sleep you need to feel refreshed the next day.
It's true a good night's sleep is essential for health. But oversleeping has been linked to a host of medical problems, including diabetes, heart disease, and increased risk of death.
If you have built up sleep debt, allow extra time for sleep: go to bed early. You sleep more deeply when you are sleep deprived, so you do not need to “pay back” hour for hour the lost sleep. However, if you have not had enough sleep for many days, it might take several nights of good-quality sleep to recover.
If you aren't feeling rested when you wake up, despite getting to sleep at least 8 hours prior, then it might not be the quantity of your sleep that's the problem. It could be your sleep quality that needs some attention. The amount of sleep you get is important, but equally important is the quality of that sleep.