Life as a mum is a big practical adjustment, as well as a physical one. Someone else is in charge, and you have to follow someone else\u2019s schedule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, what do you do when you want to exercise but you also want to sleep? What should you prioritise?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sleep is important for:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you don\u2019t get enough sleep, you might:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n How do you know if you\u2019re experiencing sleep deprivation?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n As a mother, you just KNOW \u2013 it doesn\u2019t even need defining \u2013 but it\u2019s still useful to go through the symptoms. Even two weeks of poor sleep can be defined as sleep deprivation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, yes and yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An adult needs about 7.5 hours\u2019 sleep, and young children and teenagers need more. But it feels like we mothers just get what we are given! So, how do you define good sleep? It\u2019s when you are not disturbed while you sleep, you don\u2019t wake up often, you go through all the sleep stages, and, above all, when you get enough deep sleep. But how realistic is that with little ones?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 4 stages of sleep<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Stage 1<\/strong> \u2013 This is where you oscillate between being awake and being asleep. Muscle activity and eye movements slow down, and neurons begin to synchronise. No significant recovery occurs during this stage. The sleep where you dream, or REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep as it is also known, is part of stage 1, which means that you are relatively awake when you dream. During REM sleep, your breathing rate, blood pressure and breathing increase slightly while your body is paralysed so that you don\u2019t have to \u2018live out\u2019 your dreams. You experience REM sleep during the first part of the night. This usually happens for the first time about 90 minutes after falling asleep. During stage 1 and REM sleep, brainwaves are very short and fast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stage 2 <\/strong>\u2013 The body enters a more subdued state and a person typically spends about half their sleep time in stage 2 sleep. No significant recovery occurs during this stage either. Brainwaves are a bit slower with some peaks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stage 3 <\/strong>\u2013 This is where recovery begins, although the slow brainwaves may be interrupted by occasional bursts of fast brainwaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stage 4<\/strong> \u2013 In this stage it is difficult to wake anyone, the brainwaves are very slow which means that most of the brain is resting and you can get your much needed recovery. Brainwaves are very slow. After 4\u20135 hours of sleep, stage 4 stops as body temperature and metabolism slowly begin to rise. Melatonin also begins to wane, leading to shallower sleep. This process is controlled by your internal body clock. That\u2019s why you sleep best if you go to bed on time. A person who goes to bed later than 1 am risks missing out on dreamless deep sleep before their body temperature and metabolism start to rise and the sleep hormone melatonin wanes, which can mean no recovery periods or too few. For most people to get the best possible sleep, they should sleep somewhere between 10 pm and 7 am. The risk of sleeping too little or scheduling sleep outside of the night-time period is that you risk getting less deep sleep and poor or no recovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Can you catch up on lost sleep? Some important advice!<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n So, what about exercise?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It can wait.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n My rule of thumb is \u2013 the tougher the night, the easier your exercise should be. A simple walk with your pram (not a power walk!) or light abdominal exercises should be more than enough. Daylight and fresh air are good for you! Exercise helps with sleep issues and exercise should give you energy \u2013 not drain you of all the energy you have left. Don\u2019t even think about \u2018intensity\u2019, it shouldn\u2019t even be part of the equation. Not sleeping enough and doing a tough workout on top of that is a dangerous combo because you need to recover properly and have energy during your workouts to avoid getting hurt. Also, if you use all your energy exercising \u2013 how will you manage to take care of your baby?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The same applies to soreness after exercising. If it lasts for longer than 3 days, you need to rethink your exercise routine. You shouldn\u2019t be exercising at that level at all \u2013 you shouldn\u2019t be crawling away from the session and then not being able to pick up your baby from the floor because of muscle soreness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When it comes to diet, a lack of magnesium, calcium, iron and some B vitamins can affect sleep so a nutritious diet is very important if you are a mother, even though you might be craving fatty and sweet foods. Don\u2019t give in to temptation \u2013 choose with your head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Photo<\/strong> iStockphoto<\/p>\n\n\n\n Source<\/strong> unglivsstil.se<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Life as a mum is a big practical adjustment, as well as a physical one. Someone else is in charge, and you have to follow someone else\u2019s schedule. So, what…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":15014,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[259],"tags":[107,269,106,109],"class_list":["post-15013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-training","tag-energi","tag-maternity-exercise","tag-aterhamtning","tag-somn"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
<\/strong>The idea of catching up on sleep on a Saturday morning is appealing, isn\u2019t it? That trick works if you haven\u2019t slept well for a couple of nights, but not if you have chronic sleep deprivation (which many mothers do).<\/p>\n\n\n\n