Do
you sleep enough? There is a good chance the answer is “no” because the average
American gets between 5 and 7 hours a night.
Lets
start with the basics, stats you may already know but like many of us simply don’t adhere to. For optimal health and recovery we should be getting 7
- 9 hours of sleep a night. I know, it seems pretty optimistic and maybe even
unrealistic for many, but getting over that 7 hour threshold is important and
you can really feel the difference.
Those
that get less than 5 hours of sleep a night are 2.5 times more likely to have
diabetes and are at 45% higher risk for heart attack. Sleep deprivation also
makes seemingly simple tasks harder. Focus and creativity may be stunted, your
thought process can be slower and learning new things can be more difficult. Lets not forget another big issue with lack of sleep, poor recovery.
If
you exercise, which you should be, you need adequate sleep to realize all of
the gains you are striving for by training hard. Our time in the gym is the
catalyst for getting bigger, stronger, and better conditioned, but the
time post workout is when your body is really making changes. Outside of simply
functioning better, sleep is a vital part of becoming better.
Bottom line - if you do this:
Then make sure to also do enough of this:
-KO
