How to stay healthy with little sleep and physcial activity?

amblight

My boyfriend has to get up at 4am to go to work (hard physical work), and gets home at 4-5, and then goes an hour to the gym 3-4 times a week. I worry that it's too hard on his body with so little sleep, and so much physcial activity. He wants to gain at least 30lbs, partly in muscle (hence why he lifts weights) but some extra fat would definitely also suit him, he is very very cut right now, underweight even though he is actually quite musclely

I worry that with so little rest, it's going to take a toll on his health and mood. How can I help out? We are changing bedroom this week to the darker and more quiet of the rooms, and we are getting the heating fixed so the temperature will stay stable through the night, which I think will help getting a deeper sleep.

He doesn't drink coffee, would another source of caffeine be a good idea? Or is it not gonna help besides the first few weeks? Any foods that can help him out more etc.?

snowflake954

I hope he can get to bed earlier at night. If his job is hard physical labor, he could maybe cut back alittle on gym time. Then there are the weekends. Can he make up sleep then? Some people can just do with less sleep and maybe he's one of them, but he has to know that the body repairs itself while sleeping.

amblight

I try to tell him to go early to bed, but he often wants to stay up with me etc. Luckily I am not much of a night-owl, but still, I get to sleep in as much as I want (writing thesis, make my own hours), but he still deffinitely gets way less sleep than me. I also don't think he is a heavy sleeper, which is why I think it's good we are moving to the other bedroom.

He does often complain of being tired, so I do think he needs more sleep. He takes naps in the weekends, but I still think he needs to improve something during the weekdays too.

TavistockToad

he complains about being tired, but wont go to bed any earlier... :huh:

gaining weight is about the calorie surplus, he needs to eat all the food

amblight

Yea, I know But he feels like he would miss out on most of the day if he was to go to bed at like, 8pm or something, which I can kind of get. He wants to help out with the stuff I do around the home after dinner, or watch a movie toghether, or have date night etc.

The reason I post this here, is because I think getting too little sleep also affects his daily calorie expenditure, as well as his appetite.

macmathuna

Try adding in the naps during the week. If he doeant want to miss things during the day like you said then just set an hour aside for him to nap and you do something, hobby etc that he cant be involved in. I.e he's not missing anything.

Make sure hes having all his meals even breakfast when he gets up. Protein shakes perfect for ppl that cant eat at that time.
At the end of the day the human body is fairly adaptable. He should get used to the shorter sleeps. If not it will just keep running him down

Packerjohn

macmathuna wrote: »

Try adding in the naps during the week. If he doeant want to miss things during the day like you said then just set an hour aside for him to nap and you do something, hobby etc that he cant be involved in. I.e he's not missing anything.

Make sure hes having all his meals even breakfast when he gets up. Protein shakes perfect for ppl that cant eat at that time.
At the end of the day the human body is fairly adaptable. He should get used to the shorter sleeps. If not it will just keep running him down

Nice thoughts, but if he gets up for work at 4AM and gets home at 5PM I doubt there is time for naps in his day.

For the OP, what time does he go to bed? I've been on an up at 4:15 for the gym so I could get to work by 7:15 (with a 45 minute commute), bed at 10:00 PM weekday schedule for 25+ years with no issues. I have an office job but go to the gym 5-6 times a week, was involved with active kids when they were younger, now do some sort of cardio or mobility work for a "second" workout.

Some people can get by fine with less sleep. Are you projecting your sleep needs/desires on him?

HamsterManV2

He needs to eat more if he wants to gain weight / muscle, full stop. Even with little rest, you need to be in a caloric surplus to gain weight/fat/muscle (it'll just be slower). Especially with a physically demanding job and 3-4 gym sessions a week, he REALLY needs to eat a lot to (TDEE+500 calories).

If you like the gym as well, perhaps you can pick 2 weekdays where you go to bed early with him, and when he wakes up for work you can go to the gym. He may get more sleep this way.

robininfl

Your hair is amazing!

I'd encourage him to get more sleep. Sleep is important for recovery and muscle building. I think the gym is fine and should help him to be tired for sleep. Eat supper early, have together time early, let him get to sleep. Our adult kid who has to be to work at 4 for an active job goes to bed at 8 on workdays.

Most people who think they need fewer than 7 hours of sleep are wrong, some people ARE wired to work well on less but not many, only about 1% of adults, and lack of sleep is responsible for a lot of missed workdays and lower productivity. Sleep is also important for weight loss and maintaining a healthy weight.