Day 25: Sleep Deprivation is Dangerous!

What's your go to when you are tired? Chocolate? Potato chips? Bread? Any carbs you can get your hands on? This is why sleep deprivation is dangerous! There is a reason for all of these cravings though so don't get discouraged. When your body is deprived of sleep you produce more of the hormone ghrenlin (the hormone that makes you want to eat) and less of the hormone leptin (the hormone that tells you to stop eating) which initiates carbohydrate cravings. Therefore it is important to get adequate amounts of sleep to avoid giving into those cravings. Sleep is not only important for fat loss, it is also crucial for muscle growth and recovery, good memory function, stabilised moods, quality immune function, good stress response and general well-being.

I know what some of you may be thinking 'easier said than done' right? Well I am one of those people who thought the same thing when I first read about the link between sleep and performance. Studies show we should be getting between 7-9 hours sleep a night but if you want to make some serious gains as an athlete you need to be sleeping more in the 9-10hour bracket (don't think my 6 hours will cut it somehow haha). For many of you I realise this is not possible but to improve performance and fat loss begin to make sleep a priority. Just like nutrition and exercise, good sleeping habits take practice and perseverance so don't give up yet!

Tips To Improve Sleeping Patterns

• Avoid caffeine after lunch.
• Avoid having a large meal and alcohol 3 hours before bed.
• Avoid long naps during the day-stick to 20minutes max.
• Avoid training in the morning if it compromises precious sleeping time. Stick to afternoons unless you are getting 7-8hours sleep a night. (An article used the analogy that you wouldn't deprive your body of food and water so why deprive it from quality sleeping time)?
• Switch off TVs, phones, laptops or anything with an electronic screen 1/2 a hour- an hour before bed. 
• Keep your room dark quiet and cool. 
• Eat well and exercise. 

I find that developing good sleeping habits is my biggest barrier to my training. This is the one aspect that needs the most work for me before I can progress in other areas. But we have to start somewhere and just like nutrition and exercise I need to begin with small steps and see what works best for me. Soon you will notice the changes as long as you commit to it daily. 

Here is a link to an article on sleeping for performance...

http://www.dormivigilia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/CFJ_Sleep_RawlsMeehan2.pdf

Yoga was cancelled this morning due to the teacher being ill and after a good sleep I felt refreshed so I got a CrossFit session in this morning.

My Daily Food Intake Today (Had some bad carbohydrate cravings!!!!!)

Breakfast: Smoked Salmon, fried greens.

Post WOD: Protein shake with water and a kiwifruit.

Snack: Handful of mixed raw nuts, 1 piece of paleo bread (made out of the pizza base in the recipe section)

Lunch: left over stew from the other nights dinner with added fried greens.

Snack: 1 Teaspoon of Almond butter (I could have eaten it out of the jar) Celery, 5 cashews.

Dinner: Lemon Glazed Salmon with paleo pesto (see recipe in recipe section), Roast kumara, beans, brussel sprouts, tomatoes mushrooms and onion. Full of flavour!

Here are some snaps of the WOD and some of the chaos that went on in the box. 

Dinner tonight! Fridge packed full of veggies