Sleep to WAKE UP!!

If you’re anything like me and my fiancée Mary, then you train you ass off nearly every day of each week. You know what you’re eating days ahead of time to be sure you’ll have enough fuel for that training and to get the desired results you’re looking for physically, AND, if you’re anything like Mary and I, then you get tired and need some freakin’ sleep!! In regards to sleep, everyone is different in their needs. Most articles you read state how we need 7-8 hours of sleep each night for optimal health. Well, some people need more (that would be me) and some folks need less (that would be Mary), but everyone does needs sleep and almost everyone falls short of getting what they need at some point in time.

A Stanford University study* showed that tennis players who increased the amount of nightly sleep and made up for accumulated sleep deprivation** showed improvements in sprint drills, service accuracy and hitting depth. Athletes improved by as much as 30 percent in some tests. The athletes attempted to sleep 10 hours per night. This test demonstrates just how critical sleep is for maximizing physical performance as well as the ability to focus mentally during a physical performance.

But the benefits of sleep go far beyond sports training if course. Getting enough sleep improves your mood, heightens your awareness and focus, increase your ability to concentrate on long term tasks, develops your ability to learn and your memory, improves your mood, helps with cardiovascular health, repairs damaged tissue and can even help with your metabolism and weight.

Sleep tight…don’t let the bed bugs bite!

*American Academy of Sleep Annual Meeting June 8, 2009
**It has been shown that one cannot stock-up on sleep, but can make up for lack of sleep.