Before I begin, I’d like to say… Weeee, my first “Throat Punch Thursday” post!
Please throat punch the next person that says you must have 8 hours of sleep every night.
The fact is… You may NOT “need” 8 hours of sleep every night. Yep, I said it. I’m making a giant generality like all the experts and doctors and and and… But what about if I’m training extra hard, you say? Nope, I say!
Let me clarify a few things first. I rarely if ever sleep 8 hours (that is… unless I drink too much the night before and have a hangover. ha! Doh!) I’ve never been a big fan of sleep, so when I was younger, I trained myself to sleep less. Yep, you heard me right. I trained myself to sleep less. You can train yourself to do anything if you’re dedicated enough. (Click here for my 5 ways to sleep less while training).
Now I just wake up after 4.67 to 6.13 hours (or around those times). That’s unpossible you say. What about when you’re training really hard you say? (I already answered that above, were you not paying attention?)
When I’m training really hard, that’s when I push the 6 hour sleep range. (Again, it just depends on when I wake up).
So… Am I telling you to sleep less??
Listen to “your” body and do what works best for “you”.
NO! I am telling you to listen to your body and do what works best for you and stop listening to all the experts out there that have know idea how “your” body responds to anything because they don’t know you and they just made some generalized statement trying to cover all their bases.
I do understand we have “guidelines” for a reason, but too many people and doctors and experts make them sound like they are the “law” and if you don’t follow them, you’re gonna die or something. If that were the case, I woulda croaked long ago.
The moral of the story: Don’t just blindly follow advice from experts. And that includes me! (See what I did there? 😉 )