This has been a tough week, and since most of you will get this on Friday morning, the recovery prescription is shine a class and get some sleep. If you work out in the morning, sleep in. If you work out in the PM, then use that hour (+) to get stuff done so you can get to bed early. Here are just some of the important contributions that sleep gives to your health (from a Harvard Medical study):
A recent survey found that more people are sleeping less than six hours a night, and sleep difficulties visit 75% of us at least a few nights per week. A short-lived bout of insomnia is generally nothing to worry about. The bigger concern is chronic sleep loss, which can contribute to health problems such as weight gain, high blood pressure, and a decrease in the immune system’s power, reports the Harvard Women’s Health Watch.
While more research is needed to explore the links between chronic sleep loss and health, it’s safe to say that sleep is too important to shortchange.
The Harvard Women’s Health Watch suggests six reasons to get enough sleep:
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.
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.
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.
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.
Cardiovascular health: Serious sleep disorders have been linked to hypertension, increased stress hormone levels, and irregular heartbeat.
Disease: Sleep deprivation alters immune function, including the activity of the body’s killer cells. Keeping up with sleep may also help fight cancer.
Sleep in. It's what the doctor ordered.
WOD
3 rounds
45/25# db pair
Farmer walk 300 M
15 full cleans
Farmer walk 300 M
25 sit ups (feet can be anchored.)
Niraj Rx'ing today's WOD. This WOD can definitely go either way. For some it's short and sweet and for others, not so much. It has everything to do with your ability to NOT fail on the (ring) dips. The bummer is, once you fail, it's crazy hard to recover enough to get many more dips. If you were at the games, or paid attention to what happened during the final Team WOD, you'll remember someone taking 25 minutes to do this WOD because they reached failure on the dips early. Practice your dips, when you get a chance, to work on your muscular endurance. 
