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In This Issue:
- Openers
- The Art of Napping Part II
- Nutrition Tip
- Training Tip
- Class Schedule Updates

Openers

The first evening fitness boot camp has ended. I had a great bunch of boot campers come out who were motivated and worked hard! Thanks for making it such a great class to instruct.



This month in May I have two new classes that have started at Sport Central. Both are instructed by Wayne. “Absolutely Abs” started on May 15th. It runs for 30 minutes at 12:15 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This class is a non-stop workout of abdominal exercises geared towards strengthening and tightening up the mid-section.  It is free for existing gym members of Sport Central. Drop in by non-members are $10 and a 10-session punch card is also available for $70. The other class, “Corporate Crunch,” runs on Mon/Wed/Fri and also starts at 12:15pm and is a half-hour intensive class focusing on a variety of conditioning circuits. This class is also free for current Sport Central gym members and the cost of a drop-in and punch cards are the same as the “Absolutely Abs” class.


The Art of Napping - Part II


By Maki Riddington



Sleep Overview

Those of us who live an active life should have a nap during mid-afternoon. However, to appreciate why we need to include this nap in our daily routines requires a quick overview of the mechanism of sleep.

After a long day, it’s time for bed. You prepare your meals for the next day, gulp down your last protein shake or meal, and then the lights go out. But wait—there’s more to sleep then just closing your eyes and then pulling yourself out of bed the next morning.

There are 5 stages that the body goes through during a good night’s rest. The first stage, called non-rapid eye movement (NREM), contributes to the physical regeneration of the body. Although more info is needed, NREM has also been said to be responsible for the bolstering of the immune system. NREM is known as a transitional stage between waking and sleeping and lasts for approximately 5-10 minutes. During this period, breathing slows down, the heart rate decreases, the eyeballs start rolling and drowsiness occurs.

When moving into stage two of sleep, eye movements disappear, images start to pass through the mind, the muscles start to relax and the body starts to shut down.
During stage three, breathing becomes increasingly slower as does the heart rate. Stages three and four are usually grouped together. These two stages are referred to as “Delta Sleep” or “Slow Wave Sleep.” This stage is probably the most important stage for weight trainers as growth hormone (GH) is released (1, 2,). GH is responsible for a number of things--increased mental alertness, increased strength, increased feeling of wellbeing, decreased body fat and improved neurological function. The fifth and final stage of sleep is rapid eye movement (REM) otherwise known as “Dream Sleep”. During REM the brain is very active, dreams occur at this stage as well as paralysis of the muscles. Other characteristics are irregular breathing, increased heart rate, and rapid eye movements.

In total, the brain’s sleeping pattern repeats its cycle every 90-120 minutes. The brain will move from a light sleep, to a deep sleep then to a mentally active sleep and finally back to a light sleep. This cycle will repeat itself 2-7 times in young and middle-aged adults (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8).

Typical sleep cycle



Why Nap?

Even though we spend a third of our lives sleeping, scientists are still trying to learn exactly why people need sleep. In animal studies it has been shown that sleep is necessary for survival. For example, while rats normally live for two to three years, those deprived of REM sleep survive only about 5 weeks on average, and rats deprived of all sleep stages live only about 3 weeks. In humans, those who had been deprived of just one night’s sleep were shown to have a reduction in mental exertion. In real life situations, the consequences of being sleep-deprived are grave. Some speculation has linked sleep-deprivation to certain international disasters such as the Exxon Valdez oil-spill, Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and the Challenger shuttle explosion.

Taking this into the gym can mean that the ability to concentrate and focus can become compromised which means less of an effort and intensity in the workout (9). Hopefully it’s not ‘leg day’.

Athletes who suffer from sleep-deprivation have been shown to experience a decrease
in cardiovascular performance (10), that is, their time to exhaustion is quicker. Sleep-deprivation in studies has been shown to occur around 30-72 hours. For an athlete who has a full course-load, studies, mid terms, and trains, sleep-deprivation can accumulate very rapidly.

Another study looked at cortisol and performance levels after staying up for an 8-hour period overnight. Performance declined and cortisol levels increased. For someone looking to pack on muscle and increase strength, this is bad news since the main focus is to minimize cortisol release since it is a catabolic hormone (11).

From a fat loss perspective, sleep deprivation can impair fat loss through a decrease in levels of the satiety hormone leptin, and increases in the hunger hormone ghrelin. According to Dr. Van Cauter, a professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago, “One of the first consequences of sleeplessness is appetite dysregulation.” “Essentially, the accelerator for hunger [ghrelin] is pushed and the brake for satiety [leptin] is released.” “The leptin levels are screaming ‘More food! More food!’” What this means is that the hormone leptin is responsible for telling the body when it is full. However, with decreased production of this hormone, the body will crave calories (especially in the form of carbs) even though its requirements have been met. For someone trying to diet, good luck!

Voluntarily sleeping less than 6 hours per night has been associated with an increased incidence of impaired glucose tolerance, according to a cohort analysis of the Sleep Heart Health Study (SHHS) reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine. (12) This may mean that a chronic lack of sleep can impair glucose tolerance, which can make body recomposition a difficult task. Most people have a hard enough time trying to regulate their carbohydrates and time them so that the body metabolizes them efficiently.
So, if you’re getting the required 8 hours of sleep, are you ok? Well, if this sleep is broken up, then its value decreases as the sleep cycle is interrupted. Deep sleep appears to be connected with the release of growth hormones in young adults. Many of the body's cells also show increased production and reduced breakdown of proteins during deep sleep. Since proteins are the building blocks needed for cell growth and for repairing bodily stress (muscle damage from strength training), uninterrupted deep sleep plays an important role in recovery and regeneration of the body.

Finally, adequate sleep and a properly functioning immune system are closely related. Sleep-deprivation compromises the immune system by altering the blood levels of specialized immune cells and important proteins called cytokines. These chemical messengers instruct other immune cells to go into action. As a result of being compromised, greater than normal chances of infections are likely to occur. And we all know that being sick can be a big setback both in and out of the gym.

The Benefits of Napping

Hopefully, you are beginning to understand why taking a nap just might be beneficial, if you aren’t already snoozing sometime during the day. The question that needs to be answered is: how long do I nap?

The Center for Applied Cognitive Studies states:

"Studies show that the length of sleep is not what causes us to be refreshed upon waking. The key factor is the number of complete sleep cycles we enjoy. Each sleep cycle contains five distinct phases, which exhibit different brain- wave patterns. For our purposes, it suffices to say that one sleep cycle lasts an average of 90 minutes: 65 minutes of normal, or non-REM (rapid eye movement), sleep; 20 minutes of REM sleep (in which we dream); and a final 5 minutes of non-REM sleep. The REM sleep phases are shorter during earlier cycles (less than 20 minutes) and longer during later ones (more than 20 minutes). If we were to sleep completely naturally, with no alarm clocks or other sleep disturbances, we would wake up, on the average, after a multiple of 90 minutes--for example, after 4 1/2 hours, 6 hours, 7 1/2 hours, or 9 hours, but not after 7 or 8 hours, which are not multiples of 90 minutes. In the period between cycles we are not actually sleeping: it is a sort of twilight zone from which, if we are not disturbed (by light, cold, a full bladder, noise), we move into another 90-minute cycle. A person who sleeps only four cycles (6 hours) will feel more rested than someone who has slept for 8 to 10 hours but who has not been allowed to complete any one cycle because of being awakened before it was completed.... "

Power naps can be defined as “brief periods of daytime sleep lasting an hour or less.” They should be directed at targeting sleep stages 1 and 2, and take place in the afternoon. Dr. Claudio Stampi's, aka Dr Sleep (one of the world’s foremost sleep researchers), found that afternoon siestas were full of slow-wave sleep. The main benefit that is derived from these stages is restoration from mental fatigue or an increase in alertness. During a 10-20 minute nap the brain cells reset their sodium & potassium ratios when the brain is in Theta state. This state of mind is associated with a flow of ideas or a positive mental state. The sodium & potassium levels are involved in osmosis, which is the chemical process that transports chemicals into and out of your brain cells. After an extended period in the Beta state (when the brain is aroused and actively engaged in mental activities, it generates beta waves) the ratio between potassium and sodium is out of balance. This is the main cause of what is known as "mental fatigue". A brief period in Theta (about 5 - 15 minutes) can restore the ratio to normal resulting in mental refreshment. Stampi says, "Sleep charges your battery more at the beginning of the sleep cycle than at the end."

Nap of Choice

The Nothing-Nap: This nap lasts a whopping 10 to 90 seconds. Studies are inconclusive as to the benefits of nodding off on someone’s shoulder while on the bus (13).

The Quickie Nap: 5 to 20 minutes of shut-eye can increase alertness and motor performance (14,15).

The 20 Minute Snoozer: This also allows for an increase in mental alertness and the increased performance of tasks (16).

The Deluxe Nap: If you can afford the time a 50 to 90 minute nap allows for muscle recovery to take place. This nap includes slow-wave plus REM sleep; which is when growth hormone is released.

The Caffeine Nap: Drink your favourite Starbucks caffeinated beverage and immediately take a 15-minute nap. Coffee helps clear your system of adenosine, a chemical that makes you sleepy. A combination of a cup of coffee with an immediate nap chaser provided the most alertness for the longest period of time (17).

Note: One of the side effects of snoozing occurs upon awakening. The feeling of grogginess that is often experienced here is called Sleep Inertia. Minimizing the time it takes your brain to get into sync can be accomplished by not waking up while you are in the Slow Wave Sleep stage.

If you don’t want your naps to interfere with your night-time sleep keep them under the 3 hour mark and make sure they are completed at least 3-4 hours before going to bed (18).

Conclusion

Taking a power nap provides more patience, less stress, increased learning, better health, better reaction time, more efficiency. Many athletes find a daytime nap further increases their body's ability to build muscle. Dr. Sara Mednick, a scientist at the Salk Institute for Biologicak Studies adds that “Napping also benefits heart functioning, hormonal maintenance, and cell repair.”

So stop feeling guilty and take a well-deserved nap at work or at home. Your Nattitude (nat´y-tood´)n.: a proud attitude about one's napping) should be displayed by laying your head down and grabbing some well-deserved shut-eye. Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s past my naptime, and I’ve got to get setup for the rest of the day.


References

1. Born J, Fehm HL. The neuroendocrine recovery function of sleep. Noise Health. 2000;2(7):25-38.

2. Steiger A, Holsboer F. Neuropeptides and human sleep. Sleep. 1997 Nov;20(11):1038-52. Review.

3. Brezinova, V. Sleep cycle content and sleep cycle duration. Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol 36: 275-382, 1974.

4. Clausen, J, Sersen EA, and Lidsky A. Variability of sleep measures in normal subjects. Psychophysiology 114: 509-516, 1974.

5. Hartmann, E. The 90 minute sleep-dream cycle. Arch Gen Psychiatry 18: 280-286, 1968.

6. Kripke, DF. An ultradian biologic rhythm associated with perceptual deprivation and REM sleep. Psychosom Med 34: 221-234, 1972.

7. Merica, H, and Gaillard JM. Statistical description and evaluation of the interrelationships of standard sleep variables for normal subjects. Sleep 8: 261-273, 1985.

8. Sterman, MB, and Hoppenbrouwers T. The development of sleep-waking and rest activity patterns from fetus to adult in man. Brain Dev 31: 313-325, 1971.

9. Engle-Friedman M, et al. "The Effect of Sleep Deprivation on Next Day Effort." Sleep 1999; 22(1 Suppl): 151.

10. VanHelder T, Radomski MW. Sleep deprivation and the effect on exercise performance. Sports Med. 1989 Apr;7(4):235-47. Review. PMID: 2657963

11. Goh VH, Tong TY, Lim CL, Low EC, Lee LK. Effects of one night of sleep deprivation on hormone profiles and performance efficiency. Mil Med. 2001 May;166(5):427-31.

12. Gottlieb D, et al. Association of Sleep Time with Diabetes Mellitus and Impaired Glucose Tolerance. Arch Intern Med. 2005;165:863-868.

13. Tietzel AJ, Lack LC. The recuperative value of brief and ultra-brief naps on alertness and cognitive performance. J Sleep Res. 2002 Sep;11(3):213-8. PMID: 12220317

14. Brooks A, Lack L. A brief afternoon nap following nocturnal sleep restriction: which nap duration is most recuperative? Sleep. 2006 Jun 1;29(6):831-40. PMID: 16796222

15. Takahashi M, Nakata A, Haratani T, Ogawa Y, Arito H. Post-lunch nap as a worksite intervention to promote alertness on the job.Ergonomics. 2004 Jul 15;47(9):1003-13. PMID: 15204275

16. Hayashi M, Watanabe M, Hori T.The effects of a 20 min nap in the mid-afternoon on mood, performance and EEG activity. Clin Neurophysiol. 1999 Feb;110(2):272-9. PMID: 10210616

17. Hayashi M, Masuda A, Hori T. The alerting effects of caffeine, bright light and face washing after a short daytime nap. Clin Neurophysiol. 2003 Dec;114(12):2268-78. PMID: 14652086

18. Pilcher JJ, Michalowski KR, Carrigan RD. The prevalence of daytime napping and its relationship to nighttime sleep. Behav Med. 2001 Summer;27(2):71-6. PMID: 11763827






Nutrition Tip:

Fantastic Fish Oil
You’ve probably head that fish oil is a great product for supplementing, but you don’t really know why. Here are some reasons why you should include it in your nutritional regimen.
•    Heart disease
•    Diabetes  
•    Arthritis
•     Depression
•    Elevated Triglycerides
•    Various inflammatory conditions
•    Brain and nervous system development in fetuses and infants
•    Helps raise HDL - the "good" cholesterol
•    Improve insulin sensitivity
•    Body fat reduction


Training Tip:



Exercise During Pregnancy is a Good Thing For Mom And Baby

Exercise is good, not only for mothers-to-be, but also for their developing babies, according to a new study by researchers from Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences.

Maternal exercise during pregnancy may have a beneficial effect on fetal cardiac programming by reducing fetal heart rate and increasing heart rate variability. Researchers studied fetal heart rates with magnetocardiography (MCG), a safe, non-invasive method used to record the magnetic field surrounding the electrical currents generated by the fetal heart and nervous system.

There were significantly lower heart rates among fetuses that had been exposed to maternal exercise. The heart rates among non-exposed fetuses were higher, regardless of the fetal activity or the gestational age.

The researchers concluded that exercising during pregnancy can benefit a mother’s own heart and her developing baby’s heart as well.

Sources:
•    Science Daily April 10, 2008
•    121st annual meeting of the American Physiological Society April 5-9, 2008, San Diego, CA


 Maki Performance Training: A Testimonial

“My motto is; find a professional that you trust and then trust the professional you find. I have put my utmost trust in your ability to help me with my fitness goals and I truly can not believe the results. You know your stuff Maki. I couldn’t accomplish in the gym in 4 hours, what I can accomplish with 40 minutes of you being the boss of me!”

-- Chris Pughe, Vancity Mortgage Development Manager



Powerful Quote


"If you always do what you already have done, then you'll always get what you already have."

Translation: No one likes doing exercises they dislike, but those are often the exercises they really require to get a "training response."  We like to do the exercises we're good at because it pleases us.  The problem is, we're no longer getting the training response which produces results.





Business and Class Updates

If you have any suggestions for a Specialty Class you’d like to see offered, please drop me an email.

Here are the dates for some upcoming classes:

June 1st 2008 – Maki Fit

Maki Fit: Small groups and intense workouts. Take your physical conditioning to
the next level.


June 9th 2008 – Fitness Boot Camp 7PM Session

Fitness Boot Camp: This isn't any ordinary boot camp. If you're up for a challenge   
you'll love Fitness Boot Camp!


2008 – Awesome Abs Class (date to be announced)

Awesome Abs: Learn over 50 abdominal exercises you can use to strengthen your    
core!

Coming Soon – Spinning (most likely in July)

Spinning: Spinning is an aerobic exercise that takes place on a specially-designed   
stationary bicycle called (obviously enough) a spinning bike. Spinning burns serious
calories (about 450 in 45 minutes) and offers an awesome aerobic workout that   
makes your heart pump fast.

Coming Soon – Kettle Bell Conditioning Class

Kettle Bell Conditioning: Add some variety to your workout life--learn how to
use kettle bells to get faster results.



Until next time,

Maki Riddington
http://www.dynamicconditioning.ca