Exhaustion could be linked to excessive workout sessions, not enough sleep

While exercise and diet have become the two most popular hobbies for plenty of people, maintaining mental awareness and visual perceptions, which can be negatively affected by excessive exercising, are imperative while on an exercising or dieting commitment. You can meditate, stretch or jog yourself to good health along with the wide array of fruit drinks with wheat germ, vegetable concoctions with beets or wheat grass shots may seem to be just the remedy to replenish the cells in the body, but has sleep been considered a factor? Health clubs all over Santa Monica and other parts of LA are usually filled to capacity, especially after work or on weekends and although it isn't immediately thought of, excessive exercise and lack of nutrition from dieting can lead to exhaustion as well as sleep deprivation.

According to Steven Cantarsy, Santa Monica College's swimming and water polo coach, exercise causes the body to expend energy, calories and increases blood flow to all parts of the body and during sleep the body is recovering and rebuilding.

"The human body doesn't grow, or replenish or fix itself when you're awake and moving," said SMC fitness instructor Rory Barnett. "It does all that when you're sleeping." Barnett further adds that exercise without adequate sleep is counter productive. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, insufficient sleep can be linked to car accidents, industrial catastrophes, medical and other occupational errors, and lack of sleep is increasingly being recognized as an important public health concern. People who lack sleep are more likely to suffer from chronic diseases like hypertension, diabetes, depression, obesity and cancer. Fifty to seventy million Americans have a sleep or a wakeful disorder, more notable is snoring is a major indicator of obstructive sleep apnea, also according to the CDC. "Some studies have shown that not getting enough sleep disrupts the signals from the brain that tells the body its full and can lead to eating without hunger," wrote Dona Richwine, SMC nutrition professor and registered dietitian. Around the clock societal factors such as technology and work schedules play an important role in the lack of sleep, according to the CDC. The stress in a person's daily life can easily add up to cause a lack of sleep. "Adults going to school who have the stress of tests and studying should get seven to eight hours sleep per night," said Contarsy. According to the CDC online, for school children 5 to 10 years old need 10 to 11 hours per sleep daily, teens 10 to 17 years old need eight-and-a-half to nine-and-a-half-hours per night.

Physical activity helps the body produce neurotransmitters, called endorphins, that make the body feel good, according to Mayo Clinic.

"You have to figure out how to calm down or de-stress before you go to sleep," Contarsy added. "When asleep nutrients are resupplied and the heart slows."

When you work out, you're shredding or tearing down muscle fibers, says Barnett, and when the body rests it scars over and that's when you start to see the results of the work out. If you don't sleep "Your body will begin to eat itself from the inside out, the body needs that protein," said Barnett. "So that muscles can regenerate."

When a person lacks sleep, he or she becomes restless and lethargic and may appear as exhaustion, stated Barnett. "If you watch television you shouldn't go to sleep right away because the brain is stimulated while watching," said Contarsy.

The body tends to rest better during sleep with less stimulation. Contarsy recommends to wait a while after turning off the television to go to sleep.