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Other/Mixed Sleep

Other strength modalities (e.g., Clubs), mixed strength modalities (e.g., combined kettlebell and barbell), other goals (flexibility)
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Ah, I forgot to mention glycine. Try either the supplement form or collagen powder. I’ve heard some react better to one or the other. For me it is 3000mg of glycine in supplement form.
 
I take Natural Calm magnesium because most people are deficient in it, but the thing that I stumbled upon was tart cherry juice. Initially it was for recovery and because I like it, then I realized that within half an hour after drinking it I was dead out. A bit of research uncovered that there is melatonin in it.
 
  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?
I get about 7.5-8 hours a night during the summer, and try to get 8 hrs in the winter. I truly believe the sunrise/sunset times play a role in sleep volume. I am pretty good at not using screens for 30 min-1hr before bed (don't use them a lot anyway so it's not that hard), don't drink caffeine after 12pm ever (only a cup a day in the am anyway), keep the room dark, same bedtime every day, etc. All the typical stuff. No supplements or anything crazy. I'm blessed with being both a heavy sleeper, and an easy sleeper. Less than once a month do I truly have trouble falling asleep. Typically I'm out within 15 minutes of going to bed. Also, I think the best way to get ready for bed is to get up early. Don't snooze, just get up when the alarm goes off.

I do find lack of sleep affects not just my training but mental clarity as well. I prioritize sleep to ensure this doesn't happen.
 
My biggest problem is that I often wake up at 5-7 hours incapable of going back to bed.

My brain is weird like that too. Do you feel that you need to get more sleep though? Because, I know that absolute majority of people needs more than 6 hours and several meta-analysis studies have shown it. And I know the dangers of thinking about oneself as an outlier, but if I am honest, sometimes I do think that. Either I actually am an outlier and do need less sleep, or my brain is completely sabotaging itself and slowly digging its own grave.
 
I view it much the same as eating a poor diet. You get used to it in some respects, but who knows what your bloodwork looks like or the condition of internal organs.

The body gets used to whatever - consistently short of sleep but consistently the same, you'll get used to it.

I get migraine sometimes if I sleep in, but if I'm on a longer vacation and can sleep in every day, after about 4-5 days I have no problem sleeping in. Same thing with getting more sleep, but I haven't been able to really add more sleep since the kids were born.

And with my work schedule I'd have to get to bed by 9pm to get 8 hours sleep - 8:45 actually. That's not going to happen. On the plus side unless I have really freaky dreams I don't have any problem sleeping through or dropping right back to sleep if I do get up in the middle of the night.

I reliably get not quite enough sleep...
 
My daughter has had disturbed sleep since she was born, (thankfully beginning to improve now), and resultantly I have had 5 years of disturbed sleep.
This certainly impacts on recovery, as mentioned above. The biggest impact I find poor sleep has on physical health is that it erodes willpower. When shattered I just can't muster the energy to attempt hardstyle swings, get-ups or prying squats.
The greatest thing I've taken from these forums thus far is to have an exercise one can attempt even on our weakest day. Thanks to a post by Steve I now use the Cook Carry routine. Although I don't do it to failure as Gray advocates in the video, and often I haven't space to walk so I stand on one leg, which still fires the stabilising muscles. This approach allows me to keep consistent with my training.
 
I recognise that sleep is the greatest controllable aspect of my overall health which needs addressing.
I am currently reading a book called 'why we sleep' by M Walker. It's ok. Some interesting parts are where he explains why certain aspects are bad for sleep.
Alcohol inhibits REM essential for learning. He jokingly advises students get their drinking done in the morning so alcohol is out of system by bedtime ;)
A controlled study he mentions gives a very moderate amount of alcohol to learners before bed two days after they learned some new information - and it reduced their recall by 40%!
Also eyes evolved underwater where blue light is more prevalent. This is why blue light had such a large impact on our brain. Again the effect of a small amount of light on sleep is much greater than one would credit - our ability to illuminate our environment is a very, very recent invention.
 
Alcohol inhibits REM essential for learning. He jokingly advises students get their drinking done in the morning so alcohol is out of system by bedtime ;)

That is a great deterrent to letting alcohol affect sleep! And a great way to remember it. :)
 
I used to sleep 7-8 straight , going to bed between 10 and 11pm and up around 6am. Since my daughter was born (18 months ago) I sleep 5-6 broken hours. It's difficult for me, it affects me a lot for my training, but I keep going. I guess she will sleep straight some day, maybe when she's 21
 
That is a great deterrent to letting alcohol affect sleep! And a great way to remember it. :)

I wouldn't write off good old booze so quickly.

I think it is (as with a lot of things) a matter of dose. I believe that a function of sleep quality vs. ingested alcohol does not have minimum (or extreme, generally) at zero. ;)
 
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