Why talk about SLEEP when True Grit is a fitness challenge?!!! The ultimate obstacle course! Well, we need to be in peak condition to get the most out of the awesome experience that True Grit is. Yes, fitness is a big part of it – and we will focus more on our training in a later article – but in order to train to our best and perform as well as we can on the day, we need to make sure our bodies are getting everything they need. We will be asking a lot of them!
The quality and quantity of the sleep and rest that we get can have a huge impact on our exercise patterns and performance, particularly our endurance.
WE NEED TO SLEEP TO SHINE!
SLEEP is related to so many aspects of our health. Of course the amount of sleep we have will get a big impact on how energetic we feel each day. SLEEP restores and revives us and without enough good quality sleep the cracks in our energy levels will start to show. Not sleeping well enough impacts on many other health maintenance aspects of our lives too though. When we’re tired, higher levels of the “hunger hormone” are released. Unfortunately, the hormone that tells us when we’re satisfied is lowered too… Therefore, when we aren’t getting enough sleep our minds tell us we’re hungry and we should eat more! In particular, insufficient sleep leads us to crave sugar to artificially generate energy… As we train for True Grit we need to be fuelling our bodies with nutrients and good energy, not falling back on quick fixes to get us through the day.
When it comes to our training sessions, one of the top effects of sleep deprivation on athletic performance is slower muscle recovery. So, let’s make sleep a priority in our training schedules!
“I feel happy and energised after a night full of restless tossing and turning” – said nobody… ever. That’s because only a great night’s sleep leads to a happy and energy filled day!
Getting enough sleep and rest can be a problem for many of us – children, work, too much to do, stress, insomnia… the list of reasons why is endless. Even the very act of trying to improve our sleep can be a contributing factor too!! Worrying about it and making it harder to nod off. Often the factors affecting our sleep are outside of our immediate control and when this is the case, we can focus on other things that we can influence to help improve our energy levels. Eat well, exercise consistently (yes at last we’re saying to train for True Grit!!!), and remember to make sure you have fun! Our mental wellbeing can be a huge factor in the quality of our sleep, and having fun is a sure way to get those feel good hormones flowing 🙂
Observe your sleep. How well did you rest last night?
Awareness is the first step in any change. So, if things aren’t quite as they should be in the snooze department, perhaps you can identify what is happening for you and make some helpful adjustments. SLEEP restores us physically and it helps us to organise things in our minds. Some people cope better with a lack of sleep than others. But all of us will eventually suffer physically, lose concentration easily and experience mood changes when we are tired. We cannot live without sleep!
And finally don’t forget… if you are struggling to sleep, good quality rest is just as important.
If you’d like to read more, here are a few useful articles!
5 useful facts about sleep and exercise!
Impact of physical activity on quality of sleep 🙂
We’re so addicted to being busy, Australians are becoming ‘rest resistant’!
