Which is worse, lack of sleep or lack of exercise? \ stacker news ~HealthAndFitness

pull down to refresh

Which is worse, lack of sleep or lack of exercise?

509 sats \ 34 comments \ @cryotosensei 12 Jan HealthAndFitness

zaps forwarded to @User21000000 (50%)

This is a follow-up to my running post: #846129.

@User21000000 asked me why I haven’t considered waking up at 5.30am for a solid run.

My honest answer is that I like sleep more than running. But upon probing my thinking further, I realised that there is more to it than my lackluster will toward running.

I am more concerned that I’m not getting 7-8 hours of sleep every night. I know it’s not as simplistic as the quantity, for I need to consider quality as well. Whether I am knocked out during the REM cycle. But I am of the opinion that I must first have quantity before I can talk about whether I am getting quality sleep. Anyway I usually get 6-6.5 hours of sleep, so lying in on weekends is my way of catching up on my sleep debt.

Some of my friends’ parents are suffering from dementia. I am concerned that my sleep patterns will cause harmful toxins to reside in my body and wreck havoc. I mean, I don’t worry obsessively about getting dementia, but it is at the back of my mind. And I think lack of quality sleep increases the likelihood of one getting cancer.

That’s why I think that all things being equal, the lack of sleep will be more detrimental to one’s health than the lack of exercise. Am I thinking the right way? I have been impressed with many of you who go into such detail in regard to taking care of your health. I’m sure someone has examined the science behind sleep 🛌 and exercise. 🏃‍♂️

Over to you.

view all related items

54 sats \ 0 replies \ @godlikeXi 12 Jan

Sleep. Can't exercise if you're not well rested.

47 sats \ 1 reply \ @Undisciplined 12 Jan

I'm team sleep. Good sleep is towards the top of my healthy habits list. I don't willingly sacrifice my sleep for much.

36 sats \ 0 replies \ @Bit_Alb 12 Jan

I'm team sleep too. I would never sacrifice the sleep for running. 😁

93 sats \ 2 replies \ @emm14 12 Jan

lack of sleep is worse

three years ago I used to go to sleep at 3am every single night, which obviously affected me, in all aspects of my life

I currently go to sleep at 9pm and then wake up at 6am and it has truly been a life-changing thing

There are days when I don't do as much physical activity but sleeping well will always keep me satisfied and help me perform better

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @cryotosensei OP 12 Jan

Woah from 3am to 9pm?

What caused such a drastic change, and where did you draw your willpower from?

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @emm14 12 Jan

I know, it's crazy

When I started to implement the habit of sleeping better I never saw it as something I would do for my benefit in the future, but by then my routine had changed a lot and I really needed those sleep hours

Things like working out and going to college required at least 7-8 hours of sleep and they take a lot of energy from me. When I started sleeping better, my performance improved a lot

I really don't know where I got so much willpower to achieve that, I guess discipline and the fact that I like to successfully achieve my goals helped a lot in that

24 sats \ 1 reply \ @south_korea_ln 13 Jan

I do wake up naturally, but I've noticed I sleep less and less. I used to swear by at least 7 hours of sleep every night, but somehow, I'm down to 6 these days without really feeling tired. I just hope I am not doing harm to my body by sleeping less and less.

It's hard to choose, I think both are equally important. They affect each other bidirectionally. But brains before body, I guess, if I really have to choose. So sleep it is.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @cryotosensei OP 14 Jan

I think sleeping less is a natural consequence of getting older. It has happened to my friends who have hit 40 n beyond

24 sats \ 1 reply \ @jamalderrick 13 Jan

I believe both adequate sleep (7+ hours) and regular exercise (150+ minutes weekly) are crucial for health, but the science suggests sleep might be even more fundamental. Sleep plays a vital role in preventing dementia by clearing brain plaque, and it's also essential for overall disease prevention. While diet and exercise are important pillars of health, quality sleep appears to be the foundation that makes everything else possible.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @cryotosensei OP 14 Jan

brain plaque

I will remember to use this term in my writing next time

24 sats \ 1 reply \ @IamSINGLE 12 Jan

Easy answer: Lack of sleep.

It's simple. Just don't sleep a night and you'll most probably leave your exercise schedule. You'll be feeling nothing except laziness.

People who sleep less, don't do any exercise.

Without enough sleep, people tend to overeat and choose unhealthy foods. Sleep deprivation affects the body’s release of ghrelin and leptin, two neurotransmitters that tell the brain when to consume calories. People who are sleep deprived are more drawn toward high-calorie foods. Chronic sleep loss has been linked to having a larger waist circumference, and an increased risk of obesity.

Ultimately they can't do exercise.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @cryotosensei OP 14 Jan

Great point.

Reminds me of an episode from The School of Greatness podcast. This guest suggested how doing rigorous exercise immediately after a sleep-deprived night can help you ward off your fatigue temporarily

24 sats \ 1 reply \ @SatsMate 12 Jan

I've noticed if I get less than 6-7 hours of sleep, my recovery time almost doubles. Garmin does a really good job of tracking light sleep, deep, REM, etc. I think lack of sleep is the worst thing one can do, I recommend getting a sleep tracker or a garmin if you want to track this stuff in detail

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @cryotosensei OP 14 Jan

My iPhone tracks this stuff but I never bother to look at it haha. Does Garmin provide superior information to iPhone, based on what you know?

24 sats \ 2 replies \ @BitcoinIsTheFuture 12 Jan

I just posted on your running post. Great questions. Don’t skip on the sleep, but analyze that 168 hours a week. Have you ever charter it out to look for waste?

11 sats \ 1 reply \ @cryotosensei OP 13 Jan

Excellent suggestion. Zoom out n examine the whole week in totality.

Guilty as charged. I could exercise on Friday afternoons but I treat that time as so sacred that I plonk down in front of the TV with my beer and watch Netflix haha. I should try to change!

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinIsTheFuture 13 Jan

Yes you want to have fun too. Beer while riding a stationary bike or run a mile and drink a beer? I obsess over this a bit but we have a pull up bar in our basement, I do 20 pull ups whenever I grab something down there as we have a back up pantry there.

I also do push-ups and planks randomly during the day. Can pop off 100 consecutively now.

Baby sets, but anything above 0 compounds! Go get it!

8 sats \ 0 replies \ @NovaRift 12 Jan

Probably sleep. But combining it with regular exercise makes it even better.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @denlillaapan 12 Jan

Very much the same.

Never sac sleep.

I have no way or insight into how one determines the various contributions but my gut tells me sleep>almost everything else

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @User21000000 fwd 12 Jan

The answer I think is both are very important to long healthy life. I think you said you go to bed at 10 or so could you go to bed the half hour early to make up for the earlier wake up?

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @nym 12 Jan

Sleep for sure

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Bell_curve 12 Jan

Lack of sleep is the correct answer

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @JesseJames 12 Jan

sleep, hands down. Need to take care of that first

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Satosora 12 Jan

Its easy to lack motivation when you dont have enough sleep. And that can effect the day in other ways, not just exercise.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Milkman9000 12 Jan

Imo sleep is by far the most important

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @realBitcoinDog 12 Jan

Lack of sleep worse

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @af1f6f3e17 12 Jan

Sleep in the short term, exercise in the long term

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @stack_harder 12 Jan

i think, all things considered, sleep is more important because everything goes wrong when your body and brain aren't getting enough sleep

plus, when you are tired, your ghrelin (hunger) receptors are overactive, and willpower and patience less.

also, yes, when you're not getting enough sleep, your glymphatic system isn't able to fully flush out your brain https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0301008220301726

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @grayruby 12 Jan

I think you can go a couple days without sleep but poor sleep long term is worse.

You can be pretty healthy without purposefully exercising if you have a good diet and a relatively active day to day lifestyle.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @random_ 12 Jan

Interesting question.

Imagine how much better you'll sleep if you're exhausted AND you know you did something productive.

The alternative is a guilt ridden, maybe 2 hour longer, sleep.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Bell_curve 40m

sleep is more important than exercise

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Shugard 12 Jan

I'm more concerned about not getting 7-8 hours of sleep every night.

Yeah, you should work on that first! Sleep is everything! It's what restores your body, rebuilds your cells, and prosseses your thoughts and knowledge in your brain!

Failing to get a good night's sleep will hurt you much more than skipping a few workouts here and there.

Both are incredibly important! Exercise is easily a 9/10 you should care about, but sleep is arguably a 12/10.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Akg10s3 12 Jan

I like exercise and especially running, but lately my left knee has been bad because of a varicose vein that I have to have surgery on... But that's another thing...

What I mean is that my 2-year-old daughter doesn't let me go to bed early, she wants to play and play with kids after all...

I always go to sleep at 11 at night, almost at midnight, and I have to be awake before 5am... to start my sales day... And I'm worried that when I set my alarm on my phone it always tells me that I only sleep 5 hours...

Lately I've opted to just go to the gym and I feel great 👌

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Coinsreporter 12 Jan

I put all things that might be impacting our health in a poll last day here #846592 And it wasn't surprising that there was good talk around sleep.

I'd rather have more open answer to it. Yes, sleeping less causes havoc, I agree but there's nothing much have been explored about the benefits of sleeping more than required.

Another point that I've noted is sleep patterns may differ for people, from body to body. A man may be sleeping 5-6 hours and be healthy, fit and fine. While other can be sleeping nine hours, yet can be unhealthy. There are many other constraints that determine your health.

Enough sleep is definitely not enough if you don't do it in one stretch and complete REM cycle in it.