Stress and Lack of Sleep Impacts Everything!

The last three nights have been sleepless, unpleasant affairs. I think its a combination of getting off my sleep schedule while I was off for Spring Break but mostly worrying about my living arrangements. I have to be out of my place by April 15th, and haven't confirmed a new place yet. This is causing some anxiety. I've always been very flexible and go with the flow, but as I get older I get less and less so. This is actually rather heartbreaking for me because I don't want to be that guy who's stuck in his ways and not able to deal with uncertainty. Definitely something I need to work on to regain that youthful openness. I'm in a wicked rut and I need to break out of it. Crossfit has definitely helped, I've met some great people and am learning to push myself harder than I ever thought I could.

So, yeah, I've been stressed and not sleeping and this came to a head in today's boot camp workout. I had a decent run on Monday, burpeepalooza run fest yesterday, so I was sore from those, but still. The last three nights of tossing and turning caught up to me and I struggled from the first exercise to the disappointing end without finishing all rounds of the wod.

Sleep deprivation is a problem affecting many in our go go society. We think sleep is wasting time rather than a key aspect of our health and yes, even our fitness. Adequate sleep has enormous benefits on all aspects of our lives, even helping with weight management. Lack of sleep increases stress and cortisol production, which directly impacts weight loss. Marks Daily Apple has a great post about the importance of sleep.

Here's the bottom line. You may have your diet totally dialed in, you may be totally hydrated, you may have your workouts locked in but if you're skimping on your sleep you're not going to reach your full potential. This can be tough with 5:30 am workouts, getting the kids to bed, chores, etc. but it is critically important to quality of life. Thinking you can make up for lost sleep on the weekend won't cut it, you've got to be consistent each and every night. So, DVR The Daily Show and Colbert Report and get yourself a full 8 hours.