Like many fathers of three, in my world, sleep is at a premium.  Our kids are naturally night owls, which is possible in part due to homeschooling, and when you add the two-year-old into the mix, I consider about six hours a day during the week as a gift.  A recent study somewhat confirms what my body tells me– the debt is not easily repaid by just one night of sleeping in.

Although a decent night’s sleep can temporarily hide the effects of not getting enough sleep, research showed that if that next day wanes on, there is increased risk of fatigue-related errors and sudden sleepiness.  With each hour spent away after about 6 hours on that day after sleeping in, the study participants showed an increased likelihood of making errors or even being involved in accidents.  The researchers said that there may be two processes in the brain associated with lack of sleep.  One may deal with short term issues, but a second process may be affected as days or weeks of sleep-deprived days and nights take their toll.

Fortunately, some people have found that a natural sleep aid, like Sleep-Tite, may be able to make those hours we are able to sleep more restorative and effective.

You can read more about the study here.

Generally speaking, conventional wisdom has been that in order to “burn fat,” you need to spend hours and hours on your cardio machine of choice.  Whether it’s a treadmill, bike, stepper, elipitical, or all of the above, work out with a conventional trainer and she’ll no doubt have you sweating for 45 to 90 minutes in each workout, even those followed up by weight training.  The idea, at the surface, makes sense.  By raising and keeping your heart rate in the aerobic zone (60% to 80% of maximum), you burn fat for energy and not carbs or simple sugars your body keeps around for immediate energy.  So, if you have fat to lose, you have to burn it off.  Hence, the guidelines from your trainer.

However, let’s look at this a little closer.  The human body is remarkable in its ability to respond to the demands placed on it.  Lift a heavy weight and your arm, chest, and shoulder respond, becoming bigger, denser, stronger, and better able to life that weight next time.  So what does repeated aerobic exercise, week after joint pounding week, tell your body?  It need to have sufficient fat to store and a sufficiently small and efficient heart muscle, to provide the energy it needs for these hours of exercise.  If you make your body a fat burning machine, then your body will store the fat to burn!  You burn the fat, yes, but then what happens at your next meal?  Every ounce of fat it can find will be stored away, packed on to refuel for the next fat-burning workout.  Without the fat, you couldn’t sustain the hours of cardio.  So, your body is a fat burning machine, as well as a fat-storing machine.

This is one of the basic tennants behind Dr. Al Sear’s work and publications.  While I’m not a doctor and this is only my opinion, I believe there is merit to what he says.  He’d advocate instead a program of short workouts that alternate between high intensity and recovery.  One of the reasons he believes this is best (besides the personal and professional experience he’s had as an athlete and doctor), is a look back to our ancient ancestors.  The hunter-gatherer man didn’t have obesity issues.  There were no “biggest losers” back when we roamed the plains looking to catch our next meal.  Genetically, we’re “fine-tuned,” so to speak, for long duration, low intensity exercise (like walking for miles on the hunt), interpersed with minutes or seconds of high intensity sprints (when chasing that meal, or avoiding becoming the meal!).  Thus, a program that incorporates sprint intervals can have tremendous benefit.

Look at it this way– what are you telling your body when your exercise program has you working out for 12 minutes 3x a week.  During those 12 minutes, you walk for a couple, run (jog, or even just walk a little faster), for a minute, then recover and repeat.  The idea is, you are either in the low intensity phase or a short-duration high intensity phase.  You never stay in the “fat burning” zone.  So, you end up teaching your body that it doesn’t need to hold on to that fat– it doesn’t get used.  You train a strong heart that can respond to demands like the impromptu basketball game or hauling your son around on your shoulders.  You can literally have the heart of a warrior– and that unnecessary fat is given up by your remarkable body.

Learn more about Dr. Sears, his PACE workout program, and native fitness.