Sleep or Exercise?

Zandria asked a great question on her blog yesterday:

If you haven’t had enough sleep, is it still a good idea to get up at your normal time to exercise before work? Or are you better off staying in bed and getting the extra rest?

I think it depends.

There are some mornings when I am dog tired and the last thing I want to do is get out of bed to exercise. But when I start to think of how my day is going to look, I realize this is it! If I don’t get up right now, I will not get another chance all day long.

While that may not seem horrible to some, it really makes a difference in my mood and my day. I am a much happier person, mommy, and wife when I get my time to exercise. Therefore I will sacrifice some sleep just to get that workout done.

On the other hand, constantly living in a sleep deprived state is not good for you either. Prevention Magazine has a story this month about resting soundly and the importance of sleep in our lives. Without the proper amount of sleep, we can expect our body to:

Crave junk food

This definitely happens to me. I spend the whole day looking for a sugar fix to help wake me up. Not a good thing and definitely negates the exercise I did in the morning.

Be less able to process glucose

so now, not only do I want more sugar but now my body can’t process it very well? It’s a double whammy!

Always be in flight or flight mode because of raised levels of cortisol

cortisol is also known as the stress hormone. It raises your heart rate, blood pressure, and sugar levels in your blood. When you deprive yourself of sleep, your body starts cranking out the cortisol.

You’re not mentally sharp, and your mood takes a nosedive

You spend your day in a fog and the slightest things set you off. Can anyone else relate?

Ideally we would all get enough sleep and not have these issues. Unfortunately, we don’t live in that fantasy world! We need to balance it all out. Basically, I should not sacrifice sleep every morning for the sake of a workout since chronic sleep deprivation will wreak havoc on my body. The occasional sleep-sacrificing workout however is ok.

So let’s all aim to go to bed earlier tonight and get up early tomorrow.

After all, the early bird gets the worm –and the workout!

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