Insomnia - is it better to sleep or exercise?

dcglobalgirl

It’s 4 am, I only slept about 3 hours. Should I cancel my 5 am trainer so I can try to get two hours of sleep or get up in one hour?

MarvinsFitLife

If you have the energy go for it

kimny72

Well, it's too late now but I'd vote for sleep. It's just as important, and at least personally there's no way I'd do a decent workout on so little sleep. Plus there's a cumulative effect - taking an already low energy body and pushing through a workout means a greater chance of injury and a greater chance you will overeat during the day. And for me (again) if I'm over-tired throughout the day, there's even more chance the insomnia will continue the next night. Hope whatever choice you made works out for you!

GiddyupTim

Sleep is super important. We keep hearing that, in study after study. Helps with exercise recovery. Important for muscle building. Helps with maintaining hormone levels, particularly testosterone, which both men and women have and need. Might help prevent Alzheimer's. Etc.
Guess where I would come down on this question?
We tend to be sleep deprived, and there is reason to believe that sleep is not something you can ultimately catch up on when you miss it.

sardelsa

How do you feel? If this is just an off night and you feel up for the gym, go for it. While sleep is very important it varies from person to person how much they require to function. When my son was a baby he was the worst sleeper. Even on little sleep I went to the gym if I felt up for it. Otherwise I would have never worked out. But again everyone is different how they handle it.

VeryKatie

In my experience... sleep won't come anyway. May as well exercise and pray that helps for the next day. If that doesn't work... then you need a different way to resolve the insomnia. Usually getting up and out of the bedroom helps. That way your brain doesn't start associating your bed with being AWAKE. I suffered from insomnia for about 2 or 3 months. I got about 2 or 3 hours a night for a while there, despite all my efforts. It was brutal. I eventually cut out all coffee, cut out all light from my room, stopped reading, no TV... oi. I didn't end up going to medication, as my issues resolved once my hormones rebalanced.

Note I'm assuming since you said insomnia that you mean chronic insomnia like I had.

dcglobalgirl

Thanks everyone! Yes, it's chronic insomnia but most nights I wake up at 2 or 3 and read for an hour and then go back to sleep. Last night, I woke up at 2 and just stayed up all the way till 5 when the trainer came. Thankfully he went very easy on me and did lots of stretching and nothing too intensive. The poor guy has to get up at 4 to get to my place by 5 so I would definitely have had to cancel early. Anyway, I'm glad I did it since I'm trying to be more consistent but I am pooped! Will see if I can sleep a little better tonight (after my girls' night out)

lorrpb

I would skip girls night out and go to bed early. I’d be too tired to really enjoy it. Alcohol and carby fatty food would further affect my sleep.