Wednesday 4/23/14.... wednesday rappin

Conditioning WOD......for total reps

AMRAP 6 min.

7 Power Cleans 95/65

10 Push ups

rest 1 minute

AMRAP 6 minutes

7 Push Press 95/65

10 sit ups

rest 1 minute

AMRAP 6 minutes

7 SDLHP 95/65

10 squat jumps

The Most Important Thing You Can Do for Your Health

Katie - Wellness Mama 

I’ve written a lot before about diet and finding ways to reduce the toxins you are exposed to in everyday life, but there is one simple, easy, and free thing you can do that immediately boosts health: sleep!

My father in law is fond of saying that it is the one thing that all the health gurus across the board can agree with. Some may advocate eating no meat or all meat, no dairy or tons of raw dairy, all raw veggies or only cooked, but they all agree that sleep is important and with good reason.

I’m yet to see a doctor, nutritionist or health expert suggesting that the way to optimal health is through limiting sleep or finding ways to sleep less but statistically that is exactly what many of us (me too *ahem*) try to do all to often.

On the flip side, if you want to gain weight, shorten your life, get wrinkles, stress your organs and increase your likelihood of injury, you can have all that and more by simply not sleeping enough!

What Happens When You Don’t Sleep?

Sleep is important for optimal health in so many ways. The National Institutes of Health list some of the reasons:

• “Sleep plays an important role in your physical health. For example, sleep is involved in healing and repair of your heart and blood vessels. Ongoing sleep deficiency is linked to an increased risk of heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and stroke.
• Sleep deficiency also increases the risk of obesity. For example, one study of teenagers showed that with each hour of sleep lost, the odds of becoming obese went up. Sleep deficiency increases the risk of obesity in other age groups as well.
• Sleep helps maintain a healthy balance of the hormones that make you feel hungry (ghrelin) or full (leptin). When you don’t get enough sleep, your level of ghrelin goes up and your level of leptin goes down. This makes you feel hungrier than when you’re well-rested.
• Sleep also affects how your body reacts to insulin, the hormone that controls your blood glucose (sugar) level. Sleep deficiency results in a higher than normal blood sugar level, which may increase your risk for diabetes.
• Sleep also supports healthy growth and development. Deep sleep triggers the body to release the hormone that promotes normal growth in children and teens. This hormone also boosts muscle mass and helps repair cells and tissues in children, teens, and adults. Sleep also plays a role in puberty and fertility.
• Your immune system relies on sleep to stay healthy. This system defends your body against foreign or harmful substances. Ongoing sleep deficiency can change the way in which your immune system responds. For example, if you’re sleep deficient, you may have trouble fighting common infections.”

Harvard Medical School echoes some important reasons to get enough sleep:

1. “Learning and memory: Sleep helps the brain commit new information to memory through a process called memory consolidation. In studies, people who’d slept after learning a task did better on tests later.
2. Metabolism and weight: Chronic sleep deprivation may cause weight gain by affecting the way our bodies process and store carbohydrates, and by altering levels of hormones that affect our appetite.
3. Safety: Sleep debt contributes to a greater tendency to fall asleep during the daytime. These lapses may cause falls and mistakes such as medical errors, air traffic mishaps, and road accidents.
4. Mood: Sleep loss may result in irritability, impatience, inability to concentrate, and moodiness. Too little sleep can also leave you too tired to do the things you like to do.
5. Cardiovascular health: Serious sleep disorders have been linked to hypertension, increased stress hormone levels, and irregular heartbeat.
6. Disease: Sleep deprivation alters immune function, including the activity of the body’s killer cells. Keeping up with sleep may also help fight cancer.”