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Sleep and Recovery

Could Your Sleep Habits Be Hindering Your Recovery?

 

Over the past several years I have noticed the word “recovery” being used more and more in the health and fitness world. It seems like every week there is a new gadget that is marketed as a recovery tool. Products such as Normatec boots, Theraguns, cryo chambers, and saunas have all been sold as the ultimate tool to unlocking your greatest athletic potential. While these things may have some benefit, I think most people are overlooking a massive piece of the puzzle when it comes to recovery. The good news is that this puzzle piece is completely free and available to everyone.

 

I’m talking about sleep!

 

Let’s look at some ways sleep helps with your health and recovery, then talk about what you can do to improve your sleep habits.

 

Sleep has been one of the great mysteries of the human experience for many years. We have known that it is important, but for a long time we didn’t know exactly why. While there is still a lot to be discovered about sleep, recent research has been able to uncover a few of the secrets concerning the purpose of sleep.

 

A recent study published in Science discusses the flow of cerebrospinal fluid in and out of the brain during sleep. They describe this as a “power washing” effect which helps to reduce beta-amyloid plaque buildup (this substance has been linked to the onset of Alzheimer’s disease) and reduces concentrations of inflammatory chemicals. 

 

Another study published in Physiological Reports details the negative effects that sleep deprivation has on muscle protein synthesis. According to this paper, one night of sleep deprivation (less than 7 hours) leads to a 17% decrease in protein synthesis and a 24% reduction in testosterone. In addition to this, it discusses how muscle and collagen fibers are laid down in a “haphazard” manner when subjects are underslept. This results in poor recovery from training and may lead to an increased injury risk in the future. 

 

Now let’s look at what you can do today in order to improve your sleep.

 

When looking to improve sleep there are two areas that we can focus on: quantity and quality. The recommended quantity of sleep per night is 7-9 hours. According to the CDC, an estimated 35% of Americans are getting less than 7 hours of sleep per night. Unfortunately, our busy lives don’t always allow us to sleep as much as we should, which is why I tend to focus on improving quality of sleep rather than quantity. 

 

When it comes to improving the quality of your sleep there are a few easy lifestyle changes you can make which will provide exponential benefits. These changes include:

  • Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day
  • Keep the temperature in your bedroom between 60 and 65 degrees
  • Make your room as dark as possible
  • Avoid caffeine after noon
  • Avoid alcohol or spicy food three hours before bed
  • Avoid blue light 3 hours before bed (cell phone, TV, iPad, etc)
  • Reserve your bedroom for sleep. Avoid working or watching TV in your bed

My recommendation is to start with one of these habits and slowly add in other ones as you go. I think you will be surprised at how much more rested you feel even if you don’t increase the number of hours you sleep. 

 

If you have questions about sleep or what other factors may be influencing your pain, recovery, or athletic performance call us today to set up an appointment. 

 

Blake Thomas PT, DPT, CMPT

Refine PT and Performance – Decatur

256-973-1552

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Older Adults, Do You Even Lift?

Did you know that falls are the leading cause of injury and injury death in individuals 65 years of age and older? Falls often lead to a decrease in functional ability, increased use of healthcare services, and an increase in patient anxiety. This anxiety and fear of falling again often causes these individuals to decrease their activity, resulting in impaired mobility and increased risk of morbidity and mortality due to being more sedentary (Berry and Miller, 2008).

This leads us to the question, what can we do as therapy professionals to reduce the risk of falls in the elderly population?

Older adults are the fastest growing segment of the US population. By 2060, the number of individuals 65 and older is expected to reach 98 million making up approximately 25% of the population; therefore, it is essential for us to understand and effectively dose exercise in this population in order to help them age well and decrease the risk of falls and fall-related injuries.

All too often, older adults are led to believe that they are fragile and weak, which causes them to avoid movement and more strenuous activities for fear of injuring themselves. Quite honestly, many healthcare professionals, including therapists, often believe and treat these individuals like they are incapable due to their age. This thought process is heavily flawed. Just because these individuals are older does not mean they are weaker. It is because of their age that movement and resistance training are even more critical. Each time an individual stands up from their recliner or gets up from the toilet, they are performing a squat. Every step they ascend to enter into their home is a step up. Every item they pick up off the floor is a deadlift. Every bag of groceries they carry into the home from the car is a type of carry.

So why are we not performing these exercises in the clinic?

When an older adult enters into a physical therapy clinic and the only exercises that they perform are things like straight leg raises, long arc quads, hip bridges, and banded hip abductions, we as therapy professionals are missing the boat. The exercises listed above are beneficial and have their place in the rehabilitation process; however, they should only be used as a stepping-stone to help older adults improve their ability to perform more functional tasks and to increase independence. Our interventions have to extend beyond the TheraBand and ankle weight and transition into more functional activities as the patient progresses.

Resistance training in older adults has been shown to improve blood pressure, mobility, muscle mass, strength, immune system function, blood glucose, and lipid profiles. All of which combat age-related chronic diseases that often are impacting the older adult population (Mcleod, et al. 2019).

A study performed in Australia assessed the effects of an 8-month long high-intensity resistance and impact (HiRIT) program in postmenopausal women older than 58 years of age that had low bone mass. Exercises performed throughout the study were deadlifts, back squats, overhead press, and jumping chin-ups with drop landings. The study found that the HiRIT program was superior to other lower-impact programs for enhancing bone mass at clinically relevant sites, as well as improving functional performance that impacts risk of falls (Watson, et al. 2019). Often this population avoids higher impact activities for fear that they will actually increase their risk of injury, but have we stopped to ask ourselves what the risk is if we don’t appropriately load this population?

There is greater risk of injury and functional decline from underdosing this population compared to the perceived possibility of injury from performing exercises such as squats and deadlifts that actually correlate more with tasks that are required of our older adult patients day in and day out.

If we aren’t preparing our older adults to handle the demands that are placed on them each day, we are doing them a disservice. In a healthcare system that is consistently producing fear of movement in the older adult population, I want to challenge us all to not give into this flawed system but to empower our older adults to stay active, pick up a kettlebell, dumbbell, or barbell, and take control of their health.

Makayla Palmer, PT, DPT
Refine PT and Performance

REFERENCES

Berry, S. D., & Miller, R. R. (2008). Falls: epidemiology, pathophysiology, and relationship to fracture. Current osteoporosis reports, 6(4), 149“154. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11914-008-0026-4

Mcleod, J. C., Stokes, T., & Phillips, S. M. (2019). Resistance Exercise Training as a Primary Countermeasure to Age-Related Chronic Disease. Frontiers in physiology, 10, 645. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2019.00645
Watson, S., Weeks, B., Weis, L., Harding, A., Horan, S., & Beck, B. (2019). Highintensity resistance and impact training improves bone mineral density and physical function in postmenopausal women with osteopenia and osteoporosis: The liftmor randomized controlled trial. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, 34(3), 572-572. doi:10.1002/jbmr.3659

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