Studies suggest that 7-9 hours is the optimal amount of sleep we should be getting every night. That’s like one third of your day (and your life) spent under the warm and comfy covers of your duvet, head slumped on a pillow and cuddled up to your lovely other half. Sounds great… yeah until the alarm goes off… you hit snooze as there’s now way you are ready to take on the world just yet…ten minutes later you repeat the action wondering whether maybe you should give yourself a day off and hibernate instead.
I think the weather is to blame for my inability to get enough sleep – it’s cold, grey and doesn’t get light outside till well after seven. The other problem is the Internet. The National Sleep Research Project found that ‘one of the most alluring sleep distractions is the 24-hour accessibility of the Internet’, and that could also be contributing to my constant sleepiness of late.
I’m guilty of spending a large portion of my day on the Internet. If I have a lot of work on (and procrastinate during the day), I can easily log on at 8am and not log off until well after 8pm – that’s freaking ridiculous. Though I do try to take regular breaks for a run, stretch or just to make the tenth cup of tea which is by this time so diluted that I’m drinking warm water.
In summer sleep isn’t a problem. I love going to bed late and waking up with the birds. Well not quite with the birds but early enough. I’ve been even known to get up at 5:30am just to go for a run because it’s already light outside, quiet and relaxing. In winter that’s a problem. The days are so short that it feels like night time the majority of the time. We have daylight from about 8am to 4pm which totally sucks. Now the days are getting longer but not quickly enough.
The other problem is the lack of physical activity I had throughout December – poor doesn’t cut it, shocking is more like it. I didn’t set out to achieve any goals in December. It was a month to just do whatever and recharge those batteries while enjoying the festivities. Unfortunately, instead of feeling more relaxed I felt more exhausted.
Exercise, any kind of exercise, can improve your sleeping habits. Exercise is an energizing activity that instead of making you tired will ensure you have lots more energy to burn; it also means you don’t wake up feeling like you need to go back to sleep but ready to jump out of bed and take on the world – or at least the day.
Slowly, my sleeping habits are improving. With each day that I add a run or some weight training I feel a lot more energised and comfortable in my own skin. I’m still waking up exhausted regardless of the amount I sleep but it’s getting better each day.
Today’s Training
Terrain: treadmill
Workout: intervals – 6 x 400m @ 13km/hr with a 10 min warm up and 5 min cool down.
Distance: 7.2km
Time: 40 minutes
I also did 10 minutes on the stationery bike and 15 minutes of weights before running.
How do you sleep during winter and how does it affect your running?
