Why Sleep Is Important For Your Workouts

“But first, sleep. “

Vie is a French word that means “life”.  At Vie, we take this word and put our own spin on it. We don’t want you to just survive one day to the next.  We want you to really live! A life full of vibrancy, adventure, sweat…and sleep.  Yes, you read that right – sleep.  You want the healthy lifestyle?  Good, we thought so!  It’s imperative you add quality sleep to the mix.  This one is for all the sleep deprived women that want better workouts and healthier lives.  

Sleep Aids Motor Skills

According to Dr. Matthew Walker, the Director of the Center for Human Sleep Science, sleep is critical for athletic performance. It turns out that practice does not make perfect.  Practice with a good night of sleep is what makes perfect!  It has been proven that after a healthy night of sleep, athletes are able to perform and learn motor skills 20-30% better than those who did not sleep well the night before.

Sleep Aids Endurance

There is no escaping the facts. Without a minimum of 7 hours of sleep, your time to exhaustion will increase by 30%. To put it in perspective, if you were doing a 30 minute AMRAP in one of our strength classes, you would get exhausted 9 minutes quicker than you would with a full night of sleep.  That right there is motivating enough.

Sleep Aids Physical Results 

Aside from physical exhaustion, it is also important to understand what is at risk on a physiological level. When you deprive yourself of sleep, you are causing lactic acid to build up significantly quicker in your body. To put it simply, lactic acid is the cause of that burning sensation you feel during a tough workout. The ability for your lungs to expire carbon dioxide and inhale oxygen decreases with your lack of sleep. What does this mean? Well, it means that burpees are going to be a lot harder than they need to be. Your peak muscle strength, your vertical jump height,  and your running speed will all take a hard hit without proper sleep.

Moral Of The Story

This is not a drill, ladies! Sleep is a crucial component for your success at Vie. If you feel you have been putting in the physical effort, but you are not seeing improvements in specific movements, we want to challenge you to reevaluate your sleeping habits. How often do you actually get 7 full hours of sleep? Do you wake up throughout the night? Give yourself a bedtime for one week and see if you notice a difference in your workouts!

Now, Go catch some zzzzz.

Vie

Sweet Dreams, Vie Girls!