The Importance of Sleep & Recovery

I AM A RUBBISH SLEEPER. There, I said it & now you all know.

I think I blame my mother as I have clearly inherited this from her. She is always on the go but has always seemed to survive on about 5 hours sleep, & even that seems to be interspersed with trips to the kettle & reading.
I have always been such a light sleeper & rarely sleep all night without waking up. My mind churns with thoughts about who knows what, but in the light of day they are usually very trivial and easy to deal with.

It is only recently that I have really realised how much of an effect this may have had on my training & more important, my recovery from training. For the last 8 years we have both worked 6 or 7 days a week, trained 5 or 6 days a week & coached 5 or 6 days a week. If we were tired (which, on hindsight, we were 90% of the time) we just carried on. Even our holidays were either a training camp or an Ironman!! Now we have removed most of these stresses from our life, I am sleeping better (mostly) & if, like the night before last, I don't sleep well then I just don't train that day. Subsequently today - I feel great, rather than doubly tired as previously I would have just 'manned up' & got on with it.

So what is going on when you are out for the count?;

During the physically restorative phases of deep sleep, your blood pressure drops and your breathing becomes deeper and slower. Your brain is resting with very little activity, so the blood supply available to your muscles increases, delivering extra amounts of oxygen and nutrients which facilitate their healing and growth. Muscles and tissues are rejuvenated and new cells are regenerated during this phase of sleep. If your mind is spinning, like mine can do, or your sleep is broken up, then you will not reach that non-REM deep sleep phase.

As your body enters into this stage, your pituitary gland releases a shot of growth hormone that stimulates tissue growth and muscle repair. Lack of sleep and changes in sleep quality cause a sharp decline in growth hormone secretion. Growth hormone deficiency is associated with increased obesity, loss of muscle mass and reduced exercise capacity.

Basically you are considered to be sleep deprived if you sleep four hours or less per night, while eight hours constitutes normal sleep. One night of missed sleep will probably do little harm, but the cumulative effect of poor sleep will have a negative impact on your muscles.

If you are training like a dog then the difference between you and a Pro will be, in part, the fact that they can refuel & sleep in between sessions whilst the rest of us have to be on our feet and go to work.

Recovery is as important as your training sessions so if you have a bad night & wake up with bags under your eyes - do yourself a favour & REST!!!

Night night.