Importance of sleep

I worked at the servo on Friday night and finished work at 1am, I didn't get home until 130am and upon getting home quickly noticed that the people next door were having a huge party. So i didn't get to sleep until at least 3am.
It made me think of how good sleep is and especially when you are training hard. I decided to post up this article that i wrote a while ago about sleep.


Sleep is a very important aspect of day-to-day living. Late nights, minimal sleep, stressed out at work. It is all bound to catch up with you sooner or later. Everyone can relate to having a late night (finishing an assignment or going out for drinks) and then had a few hours sleep before waking up and going to work, the gym or to school. Everyone knows and remembers how bad you feel after only a couple of hours sleep.
We feel so bad, lethargic and lazy after a few hours sleep because our body hasn’t had time to recover from the day before. Whether you went to the gym, went for a run or had back-to-back meetings all days our body, physically and mentally you need to recover (sometimes mentally is more important.)

If you just keep on going when feeling tired and run down your immune system will get weak and you are susceptible to illness, most commonly a cold or flu. So if you are feeling tired and worn out slow down or you will get sick.

When we are asleep it is when our body can dedicate all of its time into recovering our muscles, nerves and brain. That is why a protein rich dinner is very important. Dinner is when we need to make sure we have sufficient nutrients such as vitamins, protein, minerals etc in our diet. This is very important for children.
Children under the age of 12 need approximately 10 hours a sleep a night. This is due to the fact that their bodies are continually growing and changing. Adults need an average of eight hours a sleep a night.

As you get to now your body and know when your body needs a rest and you must act on what it tells you. If you had a healthy breakfast (full of complex carbohydrates) and are slow and lethargic all day maybe you need to slow down and have a rest. Power naps are great for a lunchtime snooze.
F you are stressed out at work sometimes this can be more harmful to your body because when your brain is stressed your body become stressed as well. Find something that is good for stress management, this will help you in handling stress and sleep better as well.
Finally listen to your body is it tired due to bad nutrition choices or because you are over run? Act on what your body is telling you and you’ll live a life full of energy, illness and stress free.
Matt D’Aquino
8/11/2006