all posts post new thread

Other/Mixed Sleep

Other strength modalities (e.g., Clubs), mixed strength modalities (e.g., combined kettlebell and barbell), other goals (flexibility)
Status
Closed Thread. (Continue Discussion of This Topic by Starting a New Thread.)

Adam R Mundorf

Level 6 Valued Member
Hello Everyone,
  1. How much sleep does everyone here get?
  2. What do you do to optimize your quality of sleep?
  3. Do you find lack of sleep or too much sleep affects your workouts in a meaningful way?
Thank you, Adam
 
I get about 6.5 hrs/night during the week, 8-9 on most weekends.

I don't eat much after dinner. Food choices I've found to mess with my sleep as much as anything, so I just have a couple drinks and off to bed. Only sleep troubles I ever have are due to transient situational stress - life. These do not often intrude on my sleep.

When I'm training hard I can really feel those 6.5 are the bare minimum for recovery. Sleeping in too much is one of my migraine triggers, so no matter how run down I'm feeling I get up at no more than 9 hrs at a whack and usually closer to 8.

When I was much younger and doing shift work I found a solid workout seemed to augment my sleep, and I wasn't the only one. Had coworker who might go a day or two with no sleep - he'd do a workout instead...you meet some interesting characters working the night shift, and become more of one yourself.
 
I try to sleep six or seven hours a night and 60-90 minutes a day. In total seven to eight hours. Sometimes, like on weekends, things may be different. I think dividing my sleep like this is better than sleeping the same time only at night.

I think training helps me sleep a lot better. It's starting to be very influential, and for example when sick, I have to weigh whether to train or not, as even if the training isn't necessarily good with a cold, the improved sleep can make a big difference. In addition to helping me sleep better, the training also often gives me more energy for the rest of the day. When it comes to negative effects on sleep, I have grown the habit of ingesting alcohol pretty regularly and I find that too much of it at a time can hurt my sleep for a day or two. If I feel uneasy or I find it hard to get to sleep, I like to drink a hot herbal infusion, just something from the grocery store. Those can be very helpful at times. But I resort to the infusions rarely.

I don't think that the occasional lack of sleep influences my training in any meaningful way. I don't think it has hurt on PR days either. If the lack of sleep was constant, things would be different.
 
I notice that my heart rate variability is much higher when I get good sleep. Lately I've been trying to make correlations between HRV and rest/workout days.

With a new baby, I've only been getting 5-6 hours of broken sleep so my HRV has been consistently low compared to when I had much more rest.

To optimize sleep, I like to turn the temperature down, limit phones/blue light, and just try to get my mind to relax, luckily I am one of the types that can fall asleep very easily.

Lack of sleep definitely hurts training. I feel more sore and feel worse when I workout on low sleep. I try to keep it light on days I don't sleep much and have a low HRV.

Currently using Apple Watch to measure sleep and HRV.
 
@thegoldengod I have found exactly the same on the HRV. It clearly shows when my sleep is less than optimal, in either quality or quantity.

Generally I use HRV to inform my recovery, not to inform my training. So if it's low, it serves as a warning that I am not fully recovered from previous stress. I find that I can still train just fine on a day when the morning reading shows a low score, but I need to be aware that I'm adding stress onto stress and need to really prioritize recovery in the next 24 hrs.

7.5 hrs seems to be optimal for me. I usually get just under 7 on most weekdays. On the rare weekend sleep-in day, maybe 8.

As far as optimizing quality -- cool temperature and ceiling fan, completely dark room and no nearby electronics, minimize screen time before bed (blue light) and if I'm on the computer wear some of those goofy looking orange glasses to block the blue light, and not eat/drink 1-2 hrs before bed.
 
I go to sleep around 9:30 or 10 PM and the alarm goes off at 5:45 AM, so I guess that's about 8 hours.

When I'm tired, I take a nap. I play the organ in church every Sunday and it's a big, and an early day for me, so I usually get in a Sunday afternoon nap. I don't think my sleep is particularly well optimized - both my 20-something-year-old sons are currently at home, so I get woken up regularly in the middle of my night when they come upstairs.

If I don't get enough sleep, I don't function well, but I don't think I'm unusual in that regard. And I can't say I've ever found too much sleep to be a problem, but I do find that making sleep habitual by going to be around the same time and getting up around the same time, 7 days a week, helps me, so that's what I do. I _hate_ jet lag.

-S-
 
In bed around 930-10pm. Up at 330am on workout days and 4am on non workout days. I try and catch a 20 min nap at lunch. Weekend I sleep in a bit more, but anything past 7am and I get a headache.
 
Generally I use HRV to inform my recovery, not to inform my training. So if it's low, it serves as a warning that I am not fully recovered from previous stress. I find that I can still train just fine on a day when the morning reading shows a low score, but I need to be aware that I'm adding stress onto stress and need to really prioritize recovery in the next 24 hrs.

Do you find that after you've prioritized recovery within the next 24 hours, your HRV is back to normal typically? If it isn't do you continue your recovery the day after etc?

Digging deeper into recovery - do you do nothing, or do active recovery like walking, mobility etc.?
 
We got a new bed last year and at the time of purchase, I didn’t realize it came with sleep trackers. They lie under the mattress and measure heart rate and breathing rate. I became obsessed with tracking my sleep. It’s amazing how much alcohol can affect your sleep and how little it takes. My resting heart rate is normally in the low 50’s. Just a couple beers and my heart rate will stay elevated(65-70) for half the night. Not good.

This has led me to eliminate alcohol almost completely when training. If I drink anymore, it is on Saturday starting around 1pm and I’ll have one or two. Some B vitamins in the afternoon and a good brisk walk in the evening and it gets most of it out of my system before bed.

I am going to try out the Oura Ring, the new redesign looks nice. I think it will give more reliable information than my current tracker.

My current sleep hacks. :)

Cozy phones with brain.fm
Sleep mask
Cool bedroom and no lights
Rocking blue light blockers at 7:30pm
200mg l-theanine
Magnesium
1mg Melatonin
Vitamin b6
Soft tissue work 1 hour before bed
In bed at 9-930 sleep until 5:30 weekdays 7 on weekends.

I generally get 3:30-4+ hours a night of deep sleep according to my tracker. Can’t wait to dig into the Oura data.
 
Do you find that after you've prioritized recovery within the next 24 hours, your HRV is back to normal typically? If it isn't do you continue your recovery the day after etc?

Digging deeper into recovery - do you do nothing, or do active recovery like walking, mobility etc.?

Yes, it usually normalizes in a day but not always. I use Elite HRV which gives a score and indicates whether you are sympathetic dominant (S) or parasympathetic dominant (P) when you are out of balance. Balanced is a score of 10 and you're good to go. 7, 8, or 9 S is pretty normal too, and I'm fine to train on these days. After a hard training day I might get a 6S or 7S (4 or 5 if heavy deadlifts the day before, or a lot of volume). If I get less than 6 hours sleep I might be a 5S regardless of what my training was. Hard training day plus not good sleep plus other life stress and it might be a 3 or 4 S. Following it up with non-stressful day and a good night's sleep will usually right this the next day.

P scores are a little more odd. It's more like the body is in deep recovery mode. If it's from getting an extra good or extra long night's sleep, it's a good sign and will usually be normalized in a day. If it's from recovering from a long stress (too many S days in a row, or too many days of hard training in a row, or being sick for a week or so) then I might see several days or a week of of P. I should be more cautious on these days but I'm not always. Rarely do I let the HRV talk me out of what I plan to do in training. I just take it into advisement for the day as a whole.

To recover from being overly "S" I might actively try to relax during the day and focus on breathing, and try to eat well and get a good night's sleep. I feel like a reduction of sympathetic dominance is usually a good thing to seek -- basically it's reducing your body's stress response, which mostly tends to be too high. I might try to make my training less stressful (longer rests, etc.).

I don't necessarily try to get myself out of "P" because I usually feel like my body is doing what it needs to do. I just work with it... usually I feel pretty good on these days, just not energetic or ready to lift heavy. Also not as focused at work or elsewhere. "P" tends to make me kind of dreamy and unfocused, but in a pleasant way. Mobility, stretching, and movement practice are great on "P" days. I've noticed that I get great feedback from the body on these days so I can do some light or slow practice of a movement and really learn a lot.
 
Just a couple beers and my heart rate will stay elevated(65-70) for half the night. Not good.

I am blessed/cursed with being very susceptible to hangovers. One thing I have noticed is if I stay up late and stop drinking prior, I awake feeling better than if I'd just stopped drinking and gone immediately to bed. I don't clear alcohol as well asleep as I do awake. This effect can be quite pronounced, I'll stay up late sometimes just to take advantage of the effect, drinking water as I pass the time with my Bros.

Cool bedroom temps, and from when I was doing shiftwork I'd stick an earplug in one ear and wrap a black T shirt around my head. Is a balance between blocking out the undesirable and still hear the alarm.
 
I get 6 to 7 hours on most days, including weekends. Rarely I sleep in more than that, my brain just refuses to go back to sleep after more than 8 hours. I don't do anything particularly to improve my sleep quality, although I probably should. I try not to use the phone or computer before bed, but that is a sin I keep committing constantly. I try to keep my room temperature relatively low.

If I get less than 6 hours of sleep, I do feel my workout being affected somewhat, although I mostly feel it in my mental capacity. I just feel like I am slower that day and comprehend information worse.
 
Get the blue blockers on Amazon

I think the bigger issue is the mental stimulation from the gadget. It just keeps your mind active when you should be getting sleepy. When I read a book in bed, it sometimes will fall from my hands as I get more drowsey, but that rarely happens with a phone, if ever.
 
I think the bigger issue is the mental stimulation from the gadget. It just keeps your mind active when you should be getting sleepy. When I read a book in bed, it sometimes will fall from my hands as I get more drowsey, but that rarely happens with a phone, if ever.

Depends on what you use it for. Read a fiction book, play Tetris, or dual n back. These options should help you sleep.
 
Expecting quality of sleep to get better near future because of the switch from shiftwork to day job. Will report back later.
 
Last edited:
I feel best when I spend about 8-9 hours in bed, which in practice is probably ~8 hrs of sleep. I have pretty accurate measurements of this as I wear a CPAP mask so I have logs of when I am wearing it.

Optimize quality of sleep: Room is completely blacked out, I use dimming apps on all my electronic devices, I use the blueblockers and turn off my computer and read before bed generally. I find that drinking caffeine can also effect it: I don't have trouble falling asleep but if I have been drinking a lot of caffeine I will be more wakeful during the night. Quitting alcohol completely helped a lot.

My biggest problem is that I often wake up at 5-7 hours incapable of going back to bed. So despite having flexible work hours and little demands on my schedule, I am often knocked off course because of my own body. It's frustrating but I have learned to live with it.
 
Status
Closed Thread. (Continue Discussion of This Topic by Starting a New Thread.)
Back
Top Bottom