Sleep: Are you getting enough?

Your household may not have a toddler keeping you up at night, but if you're with 80% of Americans, you're not getting enough sleep.  I've continued to struggle getting enough, and it's only going to be more difficult with one more on the way.  I welcome you to daydream as we highlight the value of regular, restful sleep.

American adults are currently averaging about 6.5 hours per night, while we should be getting between 7.5 - 9 hours.  More than 25% of adults are sleeping less than 6 hours.  Are you one of them?

Sleep helps to restore energy by balancing brain chemicals which control mood as well as provide an extended time of tissue repair.  Your mood and your muscles should improve with sleep.  Research has even shown wounds heal faster with appropriate sleep.

Reduced, irregular sleep can be dangerous to your health.  It is connected with sleep apnea, stroke, depression, and fibromyalgia--to name a few.  For many looking to return to a more optimal weight, sleep may be more important than any other activity you do in a day.

Sleep.  Regular, restful sleep.  How much are you getting?  It is hard to assess how much better your hormones, brain neurotransmitters and organs would function with more rest until you try it.  Why not make the next 4 weeks a diet of more sleep? 

Is stretching harmful?

Could your preworkout routine lead to injury?

Have you seen runners pulling their heels back preparing for a morning jog? Have you watched a pickup basketball game begin with deep knee bends? Should we stretch before we work out? This is more complex than a yes or no--let's look at the research and the evidence:

Types: The most common type of stretching is (A) Static stretching: holding an elongated muscle for 10-30 seconds until it feels released. (B) Ballistic stretching is a bounce & repeat stretch, while (C) Dynamic stretching involves gentle motion, similar to exaggerated warm up time. Examples of this are knee lifts, long lunges, and gentle arm swings.

Risks: Static stretching has been shown to lengthen tissue, immediately decrease strength by 20-30%, and increase injury rates from 0-15% (depending on the study). Long, 2-joint muscles, are at increased risk (eg hamstrings, quadriceps, triceps). Static stretching requires multi-daily and long-term repitition to increase range of motion. Ballistic stretching has been shown to increase microtearing, & risk of injury elevates. Dynamic involves controlled motions and is less damaging to tissue, though it produces less immediate lengthening.

The most important feature of stretching is what you are telling your brain. Your brain is in control of how tight or relaxed your muscles will be. I consider static & ballistic stretching "arguments" with your brain and dynamic stretching "cooperation". Research supports calm, gradual warmup periods. Allow time for your body to get ready for activity.

Dr. Anthony's Advice: Save static or ballistic stretching for after a workout--and only targeted on areas you're looking for more range of motion, not on every sore muscle. Include dynamic stretching as part of a 5-10 minute warmup for any intense activity. Your body will be less likely to injure, and you'll be able to keep performing your best.

How do your muscles get stronger?

What happens to our muscles when we get stronger?

Highlights:

• different ways your muscles get stronger
• evidence for how exercise, nutrition, and activity change your muscles
• learn what you can do today to increase strength, burn more calories and feel stronger

A friend, Samantha, recently asked me what the difference is between a weak and strong person's muscles.  I think it's a neat question.  Especially because of how dynamic the answer may be.  An initial guess is that you add more muscle tissue--and this is correct, but there's so much more!  When we discover the ways muscles strengthen, we can learn how to maximize our power and health.

Muscle action explained in 30 seconds...go!
Muscles on a functional level are made of overlapping protein fibers (eg actin & myosin).  When a nerve signal fires, the muscle tissue is flooded with a watery bath of ions (kind of like gatorade :) which causes the protein fibers to play a game of tug-of-war.  The winner is you--and your now contracted muscles. And scene!

An increase in the number of the protein filaments (myofibrillar hypertrophy) is not always shown in thickness or bulk of the individual.  This is what I call "dad strength", where my father was always lean yet could battle 2 growing boys with ease.  This is also encouraging to women who are looking to add strength or calorie-burning potential without adding significant bulk.

You can add strength, especially endurance without any physical change to the number or size of muscle fibers.  Through good nutrition and exercise, you may increase the power plants in your cells that provide muscles with energy to work.  The more often you work your muscles, the more you're telling your body to make little energy factories (mitochondria, for you biology buffs).  This is like putting a bigger gas tank on your car.  You also need calcium to fire muscles, which is a great reason to support healthy bones & muscles with a supplement.

The most significant part:  Strength gains in the first 5 weeks of exercise is nerve based.  Let me say that another way: if you change your exercise program, and start to notice strength gains, the physical physiology of your muscles has changed very little--it takes longer for your body to grow and repair those muscles--what is happening is your brain and nerves are learning how to better coordinate recruitment and firing of muscles.  We could talk all day about this. This is where the fun of treatment really begins.  When I treat the brain and nerves, I can often change the strength and function of muscles immediately!

Muscle growth, power plant improvement, neurologic development...we haven't even gotten to how we use biomechanical joint advantage (leverage) to add strength.  How do your muscles get stronger?  One part physiology (muscle fiber & mitochondria increase), 1 part neurology (brain and nerve control), and 1 part biomechanics (leverage & joint proprioception).

Now, If you're looking to strengthen your muscle, you have so many options!

• begin with regular hydration and healthy protein sources (building blocks)
• add activity based in real-life movements (functional training).  eg. walking, swimming, playing with children, gardening
• exercise regularly and with intensity to challenge your body to need more strength (5 x 40 min/week)
• continue diet & exercise changes for more than 5 weeks to see physical changes
• seek knowledgeable therapists and physicians who encourage you to move for enjoyment!