Sleep or Cardio?

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Deena_Bean
Deena_Bean Posts: 906 Member
I'm going to post this question in my favorite forums so I can see what people think.

Do you think it's more important to have enough sleep at night, or to get a workout in. Last week I was up M-F at 5:30a to work out. M-W-F is lifting, T-TH for cardio (bike/run). This week I've skipped my T-TH cardio because I'm not getting enough sleep. On the lifting days when I get up, I'm exhausted the whole day. Yes I know the answer is likely to go to bed earlier, but it just doesn't always work out that way. Working full time and having kids, I'm scrambling in my whopping 4 evening hours to get dinner, haul them to camps/practices, keep up with laundry and house hold things, run to the store, etc. Sometimes it's 10:30-11 before I even lay down. I generally pass out pretty quickly when I finally lay down, but on those longer nights I'm not getting enough sleep for me. I have found that 7-8 hours is my sweet zone. Under 7 and I'm beat. So what's more important? On the nights that I can't get to bed, should I sleep the extra hour on the other end, or forgo it and work out? Thoughts?

Replies

  • HeatherLeAnn622
    HeatherLeAnn622 Posts: 45 Member
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    That's tough. If this is your "normal" and it will be like this for quite a while, you could maybe alternate weeks. Like, week 1 do all your cardio, then the next week, skip it and get some sleep. Sleep is so important for your sanity and health. Maybe you could even just do 1 day of cardio instead of 2.

    Or, is it out of the question to try and get one day of cardio in on the weekend, so you can rest during the week?
  • canadianlbs
    canadianlbs Posts: 5,199 Member
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    i would take sleep. it feels like i'm wasting some of the time anyway, if i'm too tired to really get into it in the gym.
  • Deena_Bean
    Deena_Bean Posts: 906 Member
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    I could move cardio to the weekends with a little effort. Sometimes it happens anyways, so there's that. The lifting of harder to fit in, so I'll just keep getting up for that. I'm going to work on getting to bed sooner and see if I can sort that out. Time will tell...I don't want to miss either aspects of health.
  • Fittreelol
    Fittreelol Posts: 2,535 Member
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    I think it depends on your goals. I'm team sleep though!
  • rlw911
    rlw911 Posts: 475 Member
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    I'm team sleep, also. :smile: I think, if you don't get enough sleep, you're lifting, cardio and life in general will suffer.