Projo Fitness Blog

How much sleep do you get a night?

I'm one of those people who doesn't function well unless I get about seven hours of good, uninterrupted sleep each day. But we all know how tough that can be in this fast-moving, attention-grabbing world of ours. Elections and the political conventions, world events, family commitments and even the Olympic coverage this past summer all worked to deprive me of some much-needed sleep. And when I can't play catch-up on the weekends, I'm a pretty grumpy person.

There's another reason we all should make time for the sleep we need in our lives. Studies have shown that depriving oneself of sleep leads to overeating. "Sleep loss is associated with an increase in appetite," fitness instructor Brook Benten Jimenez, tells our sister site, DallasNews.com. "Without adequate amounts of sleep, your metabolism slows down and you tend to move slower and be less active."

Conversely, the more active we are, the better quality sleep we get. "Daily physical exertion increases the amount of time we spend in our deep sleep state," writes Tahnee Kinsman, sleep science editor of healthfitness.com . "Training individuals, especially those engaging in high intensity workouts, can have up to three times the amount of deep sleep."

So, how do we get more sleep? First, make it a priority. For me, if I know I have an early day the next morning, I go to bed earlier. I still follow the same rituals I do before bed every night, but just sooner. And I let everyone in the house know I am not to be disturbed.

A key component to that is not feeling guilty that we are sleeping in. We all have friends who brag about how early they get up and how much they get accomplished -- and they often are the ones that wake us up with a phone call. I used to work nights, so that got me past pretending to be awake when a phone call woke me up. Now I say, "Yes, I'm sleeping. Can I call you back?"

Here's some more tips on how to get more sleep, and to make sure you don't have a more serious condition that prevents you from sleeping.

 Tags  fitness sleep tips

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