Is it better to get eight hours of sleep or workout? Expert weighs in
We all know both sleep and exercise are essential for a healthy lifestyle.
Moving our bodies is important for cardiovascular health, strength and mental wellness, among many other reasons, and sleep is essential for recovery and to keep our bodies and minds functioning as they should.
But if we had to choose between working out or getting a decent amount of sleep, is one more important than the other?
Well one expert says yes.
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One expert has weighed in on whether it's better to get enough of sleep or workout? Getty
If someone had to choose between skipping on their workout for the day or cutting their sleep short to squeeze one in before a busy day starts, Professor Simon Smith says sleep should always come first.
"Get the sleep, because that's better overall for more aspects of [our] health," Smith, from Queensland University's Child Health Research Centre says.
Smith says "exercise is the friend of sleep" but ultimately it's more important to get your sleep right.
"If you shorten your sleep, you're going to feel it and it's going to have negative consequences," he says.
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Shortening your sleep can have negative consequences on your wellbeing both short term or long term. Getty
Meanwhile, he explains that if you miss out on a workout, "you won't be as fit as you might have been but it's not going to directly or so quickly affect your health."
But what consequences can a lack of sleep have on our health?
Smith says that sleep is an essential for all humans and is the "pillar for good health alongside diet and exercise". It plays a big role in cognitive function, physical growth and recovery, immune function and emotional regulation.
"Our resistance to disease and so forth is really strongly promoted by good sleep," Smith says.
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Missing out on valuable sleep can have a direct impact on these areas.
Smith says sleep loss can affect metabolic health meaning there is a relationship between sleep quality and weight gain. It can also cause our mental and physical health to decline over time.
So how much sleep do we actually need?
Smith says the amount of sleep we ideally need changes from person to person and varies depending on our age.
Ideally, he says, we should be aiming for between seven to nine hours of sleep per night but we should also pay attention to how we feel and what amount of sleep leaves us feeling well-rested.
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Eye Mask Protecting Female With Sensitive Sleep Pattern From Excess Light Getty
Smith also says it's important to aim for consistency in our sleep.
"The duration of sleep is really important," he says.
"But the time of day you get that, the regularity of your sleep, the predictability of your sleep are also really important."
Lost sleep over time
So for those who may be tempted to cut their eight hours of sleep short to squeeze in a workout before heading into the office you may want to reconsider that alarm.
A recent survey found that on average Aussies are missing out on almost an hour and a half of desired sleep every night which added up to more than 20 days of missed sleep in a year.
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Cutting out even an hour two of sleep can have a big impact on your wellbeing. Getty
Smith says that cutting even an hour or two of sleep out of your night will add up over time and can have a big impact.
"An hour and a half less a night is quite a lot and you know if you are missing out on sleep it accumulates over time. So if you're missing out on an hour every night over a week, you know, that's seven hours you've missed out on by the end of the week."
Can you 'make up' lost sleep?
Meanwhile, for those who think they can simply make up for lost sleep at a later date, Smith says it doesn't quite work like that, explaining that lost sleep can't exactly be salvaged.
"In some ways it's gone," Smith says.
"It's a bit of a tricky space because we don't want people burning the candle during the week and then catching up on the weekend as a habit. That's not a good habit to be in."
Sometimes lost sleep is out of our control but ultimately, Smith says, catching up on sleep isn't very effective. Getty
While Smith understands that sometimes factors out of our control, like a crying baby, that can cause us to miss some sleep and "some catch up" sleep either via a nap or a weekend sleep in can be good, he says it's not as effective as we'd hope.
"What tends to happen is you don't make up all the sleep you've lost. Your brain seems to try to recover as much of the function as it can, you know, kind of rapidly, but you never quite get the hours back."
So, Smith says, focusing on your sleep is one of the most beneficial things you can do for your wellbeing. Once you get your "[sleep] foundation in place", Smith says, other things like exercise will "flow more easily".
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