At what point do you skip a planned workout...I have a 5 month old (who is sick to boot) and he does not sleep well. Plus I have some issues with insomnia. I can usually fall asleep but I wake at night and cant always go back. Its not like I typically get a good night's sleep and I have an off night. Basically everynight is a fight to get enough sleep to function. With 3 kids, naps arent an option, my older two dont nap...and honestly even if they did, I am one of those people that cannot nap. I've never been able to take naps during the day. I cant settle down to sleep mid day... Im lucky I can get to sleep at night!
I do it when I know that I will perform at like 50% capacity or less because I know that if I do plan it for a different day, then I will be able to put in more effort in my workout. I just set a billion reminders to myself so that I won't forget to workout on a different day if I am having an out-of-routine week. =)
I always exercise. But if I haven't had enough sleep, or other problems, I'll count 15 minutes as stretching as my exercise. That holds the place for exercise in my life so that I still have the time and habit slated in my day for when things improve.
I don't know if this will help you, but I recently had a revelation about sleep that I'm dying to share. I've always had trouble with sleep (and I'm right with you on the naps!).
I had this theory that it was okay to stay up late because I would get sleepier and sleep better, even if meant that I was getting fewer hours in bed. Turned out, I was wrong. Going to bed late means that I'm tense because I know that I'm not going to get enough sleep and I sleep worse. When I go to bed eight hours or more before I know I'll be getting up, I'm more relaxed and the whole night goes better. Took me 50+ years to figure that out, so I'm hoping that someone else benefits at a younger age.
I gotta go with Joy here on the "do something" front. I am trying to respect sleep more (a few years ago, I had a habit of pulling all-nighters two to three nights a week to stay "caught up" with work, school, and kids), so when I work out hard, I try to give myself that sleep time for my body to rejuvenate. When I just have an off-night and only sleep a few hours one night, I find that my work-outs the next day don't suffer, and sometimes, I can go even harder. But you're talking about chronic sleep deprivation. I'm not an expert, and think that this is an important enough question (and it's ongoing) to seek out an expert, but . . . I would worry about my body's ability to recuperate from really hard work-outs. Maybe your answer for now is gentler work-outs when you string together lots of low-sleep nights?
BTW, when I say "expert," I don't mean your general practitioner. I have been consistently disappointed by the lack of knowledge regarding training among doctors. Someone who knows sports medicine is your best bet, I would think. Maybe a very experienced personal trainer? But I bet there are lots of people on the exercise forum here that have encountered this stuff and could have some good answers for you.
while I don't suffer from chronic low-sleep issues, I do have days when i'm just up late, or wake up at night and can't sleep (when it's hot in the house) or when I just don't get enough good rest.....on those next days, I work out depending on how my body feels....sometimes after a low-sleep night I feel just fine the next day and workout....and sometimes I feel like death warmed over and so I skip the workout
For me, sleep is the foundation for everything else. I would never trade sleep for early morning or late night exercise time. When you are sleep deprived your body holds onto fat from the stress and you are more likely to overeat.
I try not to let anything get in the way of my exercise, but I do believe in that whole "listen to your body". Sometimes you need sleep more than you need exercise. Sometimes exercise will help you sleep. Only you can know what's right for you, just make sure you are skipping your workout because you need to and not just because you can't get motivated. If it's motivation you need, that's a whole different thing.
If the choice is between an hour of exercise or an hour of sleep when I'm low, my body benefits much, much more from an hour of sleep. Exercise is great for health, but if you're sleeping terribly and it's serial that is the primary issue to remedy or at least treat.
I may fit in some stretching or a quick aerobic sequence in the afternoon - maybe 5-10 minutes? But that is because it helps me feel better and eases my neck and back pain. But exercise is overrated compared to solid sleeping and I wouldn't sacrifice one for the other. Since this isn't an ongoing thing I think it is fine to rest and begin your exercise again on a more normal sleeping day.
Thank you all! The day I posted I decide to workout anyway..and I was glad I did. I felt good afterwards. I di have days though when I am just so tired, I can barely do the hosue chores I need to.
I don't get up early to work out nor do I do it at night before bed, so no sleep is being sacrificed for sleep. I like first morning workouts but the baby is up for the day at like 4 or 5am so I'm not getting up before then right now. I don't stay up either. He goes down anywhere from 7:30 - 8pm. My other kids are in bed usually 7 on school nights, and 8 on weekends. I go to bed usually about 20 minutes after all the kids are in bed. (I "close up", turn off lights, out any last dishes in dishwasher if I couldnt get to it before, brush my teeth)...
My first son (autistic) had (still has) sleep disturbances, and I guess I'm jst so worried this baby will too. My middle son is typical and wow what a difference with sleep. Anyway, severe sleep deprivation might be in the future again for me for the next few years, so I'm just trying to not let that stop me from exercising.
When you're sleep deprived?
