You Don’t Need To Spend Hours In The Gym
How much time should you spend in the gym?
Unless you are a competitive athlete you do not need to spend hours in the gym multiple days a week to see results.
These are the physical activity guidelines from the World Health Organization for adults age 18-64:
1: should do at least 150–300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity;
2: Or at least 75–150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity; or an equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity activity throughout the week.
3: should also do muscle-strengthening activities at moderate or greater intensity that involve all major muscle groups on 2 or more days a week, as these provide additional health benefits.
That's a minimum of 2.5 hours and a maximum of 5 hours of moderate intensity activity. A lot less as your intensity increases. They say you can increase those activity levels for additional benefits, but that isn’t elaborated on.
You can hit the minimums with 30 minutes of activity, for 5 days. Or by going to the gym for 2-3 days at an hour each session.
If you want to dedicate more time to the gym, that's great. But eventually there will be diminishing returns.
Maybe the additional time you spend in the gym could be spent on your recovery. Take a nap :)
Maybe the additional time you spend in the gym could be spent engaging in other enjoyable social activities that contribute to your mental health.
Maybe the additional time you spend in the gym could be spent preparing a nice meal. @hellofreshca sponsor me.
Just because you see someone else spending 2-3 hours a day in the gym, doesn’t mean you need to. Maybe they need to based on their goals. Or maybe they need another hobby.
Dehydrated After Sleep?
Learn why you may be dehydrated after waking up
Your first thought is likely that you should be drinking more water.
But what if you are already meeting (or exceeding) recommended water intake levels?
Maybe there is something you are doing while you are sleeping that is resulting in excessive water loss.
Now I doubt you are running marathons while sleepwalking. If so, that’s impressive.
So how are you breathing?
Mouth breathing can result in a net water loss increase of up to 42% when compared to nasal breathing during sleep.
This can lead to increased fatigue, vulnerability to inflammation, shallow chest breathing, and more instances of apnoea, arousals and awakenings.
We don’t want that.
To change this we need to reprogram the way we sleep. This takes time, effort and focus.
There are a few strategies people can use.
The simplest but likely the most challenging is to tape your mouth shut. Medical paper tape can do the trick. Duct tape is overkill.
Other strategies include ensuring nasal airways can be as open as possible. Simple solutions you could try if this is difficult for you include nasal irrigation, breathing aids, and steam from a hot shower.
📘: Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art - James Nestor