Live Happy: Motivational Monday: Fitness Series 3: Are you getting enough sleep?

Welcome to week 3 of the fitness series! If you missed week 1 or 2 you can find them here & here!

Today I want to focus on getting enough Zz's. It seems that sleep is the first thing to go when we have a huge project deadline, party, or even just the midnight movie that's a must see opening night. This last weekend I had a huge event to get ready for and preparations went into the morning hours. I felt sluggish the next day and my simple workout seemed like a marathon. The next night I stayed up again into the wee hours of the morning cleaning up after the event {can we say OCD clean}. And again the following night I stayed up late with family watching a movie. Three nights of little sleep finally caught up to me and let's just say I hit dreamland early last night...10 PM early in fact. I'm still a little exhausted today but my workout this morning was much easier and I felt more energized. The crummy thing about missing a good nights rest is that it takes a few nights to make up for it. So hopefully by next week I'll be back on my normal schedule. Other than feeling sluggish here are some more reasons to get a full 8 hours of sleep each night!

SHOCKING FACTS ABOUT SLEEP

Poor sleep is more dangerous to women than to men. Women experience higher risks of cardiovascular problems when they don't get enough rest and they're also more susceptible to psychological distress, depression, and anger.
Auto accidents increase by 17 percent on Monday after Daylight Saving Time occurs, which is when people 'lose' and hour of sleep. Heart attacks increase by approximately 5 percent.
Lack of sleep impairs attention, alertness, concentration, reasoning, and problem solving. This makes it more difficult to learn efficiently.
Sleep deprivation can lead to serious health problems

heart disease
heart attack
heart failure
irregular heartbeat
high blood pressure
stroke
diabetes

Lack of sleep ages the skin. When you don't get enough sleep, your body releases more of the stress hormone cortisol. In excess amounts, cortisol can break down skin collagen, the protein that keeps skin smooth and elastic.
Losing sleep can make you gain weight. Lack of sleep seems to be related to an increase in hunger and appetite. Shortened sleep time is associated with decreases in leptin(peptide that signals satiety and suppresses appetite) and elevations in ghrelin(peptide that stimulates hunger).

(sources: webmd.com & shape.com)

SLEEP GOAL: 8 HOURS PER NIGHT!

WEEKLY WORKOUT

Notes: Arm Workout Below

Insanity: Sadly I don't have a YouTube link for this but these workouts are worth it. I recommend buying your Insanity set on Amazon, found here or check craigslist, etc. I found my copy of Insanity on craigslist for $20.00!

Full Body Workout: found here.

Abs: found here.

Legs: found here.

WORKOUT