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Training When You Are Short on Sleep
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In one pass Short sleep does not lower every ability by the same amount: skills that need focus and precision drop first, and maximal strength drops least.
Educational content, not medical advice — consult a clinician.
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Chapter 1
What short sleep costs first
Short sleep does not lower every ability by the same amount: skills that need focus and precision drop first, and maximal strength drops least. In a that pooled 69 studies, after 6 hours of sleep or less in 24 hours, skilled actions such as shooting a basketball or serving in tennis got worse by 20.9% on average, endurance by 5.55%, and maximal strength by only 2.85%. The authors' explanation is that skilled actions make the biggest demands on the brain, and reaction, attention and judgment are exactly what short sleep drags down first (see All-Nighter).
This story is for people who have had one bad night, and for people who get up at night to feed a baby, work night shifts, or have been short on sleep for weeks or months: whether to train today, how hard, and how to keep moving when sleep stays short.
A step you can take today: on a short-sleep day, put off the work that needs precision and quick reactions first.
Two safety lines come first. Do not drive after an all-nighter, and do not drive yourself to training when your eyelids feel heavy. If you get sudden chest pain or tightness during or after training, or faint during exercise, call emergency services now; see Moving through weeks of short sleep.
This story is for people who have had one bad night, and for people who get up at night to feed a baby, work night shifts, or have been short on sleep for weeks or months: whether to train today, how hard, and how to keep moving when sleep stays short.
A step you can take today: on a short-sleep day, put off the work that needs precision and quick reactions first.
Two safety lines come first. Do not drive after an all-nighter, and do not drive yourself to training when your eyelids feel heavy. If you get sudden chest pain or tightness during or after training, or faint during exercise, call emergency services now; see Moving through weeks of short sleep.
Evidence · Which short sleep, at what time, hurts most
Craven 2022 pooled 69 studies with 959 participants, 89% of them men; short sleep was defined as 6 hours or less in 24 hours. Overall, exercise performance got worse by 7.56% on average, and every category was affected: skill by 20.9%, high-intensity intervals by 6.15%, short explosive efforts such as all-out sprints and jumps by 6.26%, endurance by 5.55%, and maximal strength by 2.85%.The way sleep was cut also mattered. Missing the whole night, or getting up earlier than usual and losing the second half of the night, had a consistent effect. Going to bed later than usual while getting up at the same time showed no consistent effect for most tasks, with skill and endurance as the exceptions. With a missed night or an early start, each extra hour awake before exercise lowered performance by about another 0.4% on average.
Time of day mattered too: tasks done in the afternoon or evening were affected more consistently, while tasks done in the morning were mostly not clearly affected. So the authors advise that when short sleep is expected and cannot be avoided, you avoid missing the whole night or being forced up early, and train in the morning.
On the strength side, Knowles 2018, a systematic review of 17 studies rated moderate or weak in quality, found that one night without sleep had little effect on maximal strength; only after several nights of short sleep did strength in multi-joint lifts such as the squat fall, while single-joint movements did not.
Read the limits carefully. Most of these studies had young men sleep short for a night or two in a laboratory and measured performance on the spot, not training gains weeks later, and the studies differed a great deal from one another.
Chapter 2
Why the same effort feels harder
On short sleep, the same pace and the same weight feel harder, and that extra effort comes mainly from perception, not from the muscle. In one small experiment, 8 people walked on a treadmill at the same intensity as after normal sleep, but after 36 hours awake: heart rate and oxygen use did not change, yet perceived effort was clearly higher, and the time they could keep going until exhaustion was 11% shorter on average. Another experiment measured fatigue in the leg muscles and nerves after one night without sleep and found no difference from normal sleep, yet effort still felt higher.
In other words, the body's engine is still there; the brain gives the same work a higher score. The longer you are awake, the higher the sleep pressure in the brain (see All-Nighter); exactly how it rewrites perceived effort has not been measured yet.
A step you can take today: set the intensity by feel, not by your usual pace or weight. Perceived effort already moves with how you are, so training by it makes that day's amount smaller on its own (see Starting from Zero, No Gym Needed).
In other words, the body's engine is still there; the brain gives the same work a higher score. The longer you are awake, the higher the sleep pressure in the brain (see All-Nighter); exactly how it rewrites perceived effort has not been measured yet.
A step you can take today: set the intensity by feel, not by your usual pace or weight. Perceived effort already moves with how you are, so training by it makes that day's amount smaller on its own (see Starting from Zero, No Gym Needed).
Evidence · What three experiments found
Martin 1981 had 8 people walk on a treadmill to exhaustion at about 80% of their maximal oxygen uptake, once after normal sleep and once after 36 hours awake. After short sleep they lasted 11% less time on average, but people differed a lot: 4 changed by less than 5%, while the other 4 lost 15% to 40%. During the walk, heart rate and oxygen use did not change, while perceived effort was clearly higher. The author suggests that the psychological effects of sleep loss may be one reason tolerance fell.Temesi 2013 kept 12 active men awake for one night, then had them cycle for 40 minutes at moderate intensity and then cycle to exhaustion. After short sleep, effort felt higher during the moderate stretch, and time to exhaustion fell from 1236 to 1137 seconds; reaction time before cycling was 8% longer. But the fatigue measures for the leg muscles and the nervous drive to them did not differ between the two conditions. The authors conclude that the drop in performance was probably not caused by muscular or central fatigue.
Oliver 2009 had 11 men run for 30 minutes at their own pace after 30 hours awake. They covered less distance than after normal sleep (6037 versus 6224 meters), yet heart rate and perceived effort were about the same as after normal sleep. In other words, effort felt the same and they ran less; the authors think perceived effort itself had been changed.
Another clue points to motivation: Knowles 2018 writes that short sleep held back strength in tests without specific steps to raise motivation.
Read the limits carefully. All three experiments had no more than a dozen or so people, all or mostly men, and the sleep loss was a whole night or more. They show that perception changed, but exactly which step in the brain rewrites perceived effort has not been measured.
Chapter 3
Muscle and blood sugar on short sleep
Short sleep does not only make that day's training worse; it also blunts how muscle builds protein and how the body handles blood sugar, and exercise is one of the few things measured to hold part of that back. After one night without sleep, the rate at which muscle builds new protein after a meal fell by 18%, the stress hormone cortisol rose, and testosterone fell. After one night of only 4 hours of sleep, the liver and muscles also respond less to insulin.
Over several short nights in a row, these changes pile up. One experiment split 24 young men into three groups, two of which spent only 4 hours in bed each night for 5 nights. In the group that only slept short, glucose tolerance worsened, and both the muscle's mitochondrial capacity to produce energy and its rate of building protein fell. In the group that slept just as short but did 3 sessions of high-intensity interval training along the way, these changes did not appear.
A step you can take today: on the days you are short of sleep, do not stop exercising altogether; keep some activity you can handle.
Over several short nights in a row, these changes pile up. One experiment split 24 young men into three groups, two of which spent only 4 hours in bed each night for 5 nights. In the group that only slept short, glucose tolerance worsened, and both the muscle's mitochondrial capacity to produce energy and its rate of building protein fell. In the group that slept just as short but did 3 sessions of high-intensity interval training along the way, these changes did not appear.
A step you can take today: on the days you are short of sleep, do not stop exercising altogether; keep some activity you can handle.
Evidence · What one night and five nights showed
Lamon 2021 had 13 healthy young adults (7 men, 6 women) go through one night without sleep and one normal night in random order, then measured muscle protein synthesis after a meal the next afternoon: after the sleepless night it was 18% lower, blood cortisol was 21% higher and testosterone 24% lower, while markers of muscle protein breakdown did not change. The authors conclude that one night without sleep is enough to make muscle respond less to the signal to build, and that such short-term changes may be the forerunners of the harm long-term short sleep does to metabolism and body composition.Donga 2010 had 9 healthy adults sleep only 4 hours for one night, then measured insulin action the next day with a clamp test: the liver released more sugar, the muscles took up less, and about 25% less glucose had to be infused to hold blood sugar steady. The earlier Spiegel 1999 had young men sleep short for several nights in a row and also found worse glucose tolerance and higher evening cortisol.
Saner 2021 split 24 young men into three groups: 8 hours in bed a night, 4 hours a night, and 4 hours a night plus 3 sessions of high-intensity interval training, each for 5 nights. In the group that only slept short, glucose tolerance, mitochondrial function and sarcoplasmic protein synthesis all fell; in the group that also trained, these changes did not appear.
Read the limits carefully. These studies were all small, the participants were all healthy young adults, and they were measured for only a few days in a laboratory; Saner 2021 did not assign its groups at random, and it used high-intensity interval training. Whether lighter exercise does the same has not been tested. Following the mechanism, a contracting muscle moves its glucose transporter, , to the cell surface and takes up sugar without needing insulin, so lighter activity should also do part of the job; that step has not been measured directly.
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Myth · Can extra training cancel out lost sleep
Training harder because you fear that short sleep will make you gain weight rests on a shaky premise. After short sleep, leptin, which damps appetite, falls and ghrelin, which drives hunger, rises, so you get hungrier, especially for high-carbohydrate, high-calorie foods; Spiegel 2004 saw this in 12 healthy young men. This is hormones at work, not a lack of willpower.Nedeltcheva 2010 put 10 overweight adults on a diet for 14 days and compared 8.5 hours with 5.5 hours of sleep a night. The weight lost was about the same either way, but on short sleep only 0.6 kg of it was fat, compared with 1.4 kg on full sleep, and more fat-free mass was lost instead (2.4 kg versus 1.5 kg).
Read together: when it comes to weight, sleep is a variable in its own right, and short sleep acts from two sides, appetite and which tissue is lost. Neither study included exercise, and no trial has directly compared extra training with more sleep; but pushing harder while exhausted runs straight into the time when your skill and reactions are at their worst (see What short sleep costs first).
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Chapter 4
Scaling down on a short-sleep day
On a short-sleep day, lower the intensity and difficulty first, then decide how long to train; stop first the work that needs precision, quick reactions or maximal effort. Short sleep drags down skill and reaction first, and heavy lifting, contact and technical work depend on exactly those.
You can adjust like this:
Keep moving, but switch to an easy version, such as brisk walking or easy cycling; if you can still speak in full sentences, it is easy.Move heavy sets close to failure, personal-record attempts, contact games and newly learned technique to a day when you have slept enough.If you must train, do it in the morning if you can; if your usual weight feels clearly heavy in the warm-up, cut back that day (see Training injuries).Do not add training out of fear of gaining weight: being hungrier on short sleep is hormones at work.
Do not drive after an all-nighter, and do not drive yourself to training when your eyelids feel heavy after a night shift. How to use coffee and naps is covered in All-Nighter.
You can adjust like this:
Keep moving, but switch to an easy version, such as brisk walking or easy cycling; if you can still speak in full sentences, it is easy.Move heavy sets close to failure, personal-record attempts, contact games and newly learned technique to a day when you have slept enough.If you must train, do it in the morning if you can; if your usual weight feels clearly heavy in the warm-up, cut back that day (see Training injuries).Do not add training out of fear of gaining weight: being hungrier on short sleep is hormones at work.
Do not drive after an all-nighter, and do not drive yourself to training when your eyelids feel heavy after a night shift. How to use coffee and naps is covered in All-Nighter.
In practice · Deciding whether to train today
First ask how last night's sleep was cut short. In the Craven 2022 pooled analysis, missing the whole night and getting up earlier than usual, losing the second half of the night, had the most consistent effect on next-day performance; going to bed later while getting up at the usual time had no clear effect on most tasks, with skill and endurance as the exceptions. Performance also keeps slipping the longer you are awake, so if you must train, the morning is a better deal than the evening.Then ask what you had planned. Easy aerobic work and mobility can go ahead, with the talk test to keep the intensity in check: if you can still talk in full sentences fairly comfortably, you are below the ventilatory threshold. Training by feel makes that day's amount smaller on its own, which is exactly what you want on short sleep (see Why the same effort feels harder). Move the part that needs skill, quick reactions or near-maximal effort to a day when you have slept enough.
Maximal strength changes little after one short night, but after several nights, strength in multi-joint lifts such as the squat falls (Knowles 2018). So when you have been short of sleep for several days in a row, the heavy day is even more worth postponing. Cutting back when your usual weight feels clearly heavy in the warm-up is a judgment coaches commonly use, not a cut-off that came from a trial.
The American College of Sports Medicine position stand says an exercise program should be adjusted to a person's health status and response to exercise. Being short of sleep is one of those states that call for adjusting down.
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Background · Is short sleep linked to injury
So far there are only observational clues on this. Milewski 2014 surveyed 112 athletes at one school (mean age 15) and matched their self-reported sleep with injuries in the school's records: those who slept less than 8 hours a night on average were 1.7 times as likely to have had an injury as those who slept 8 hours or more (95% 1.0–3.0, with the lower end of the interval right at 1).This is a retrospective association with self-reported sleep, and it cannot show that short sleep caused the injuries: students who train more or carry heavier schoolwork may both sleep less and get hurt more. Following the mechanism, reaction and skill decline first on short sleep, which makes mistakes in contact and complex movements more likely; that makes sense, but this study cannot prove it.
So it is only one more reason to drop contact and technical work first on a short-sleep day, not a claim that sleeping a little less will surely get you hurt.
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Chapter 5
Moving through weeks of short sleep
First, know when you must stop. If you get sudden chest pain or tightness during or after training, or faint during exercise, call emergency services now. Marked breathlessness, a racing heart or feeling about to faint during exercise: stop at once and do not push through; if the symptoms do not settle, seek medical care right away. If you are so sleepy in the daytime that you nod off while driving, stop driving and get a sleep study soon (see Obstructive Sleep Apnea). After having a baby, if you have thoughts of harming yourself or your baby, get help now: in mainland China, call the national psychological assistance hotline 12356; wherever you are, you can go to your local emergency department.
Beyond that, when sleep has been short for weeks or months, exercise is a floor that protects the body, not one more task to push through. Regular exercise also brings small to moderate benefits for sleep itself.
A step you can take today: keep one stretch of easy activity every day, such as a walk outside pushing the baby. How to return to training step by step after birth is covered in Pregnancy + exercise; for night workers, when to seek light and when to block it is covered in Shift Work.
Beyond that, when sleep has been short for weeks or months, exercise is a floor that protects the body, not one more task to push through. Regular exercise also brings small to moderate benefits for sleep itself.
A step you can take today: keep one stretch of easy activity every day, such as a walk outside pushing the baby. How to return to training step by step after birth is covered in Pregnancy + exercise; for night workers, when to seek light and when to block it is covered in Shift Work.
Mechanism · What exercise protects when sleep stays short
Earlier chapters covered how short sleep drags down muscle and blood sugar, and how one experiment found that exercise held part of that back (see Muscle and blood sugar on short sleep). When sleep stays short for a long time, this matters even more: what builds up over weeks is not one bad training day but a body whose ability to handle sugar and keep its muscle keeps being pushed down.Exercise also helps sleep in return. Kredlow 2015 pooled 66 studies: regular exercise brought small benefits for total sleep time and sleep efficiency, small to moderate benefits for how quickly people fell asleep, and moderate benefits for sleep quality. The benefits are not large, but they point the right way, and they cost nothing.
Light is another thread. Light reaching the eyes travels through the retina to the brain's master clock in the hypothalamus (the , the suprachiasmatic nucleus) and keeps it aligned with the 24-hour day; light is also used as a way to improve sleep and mood. A walk outside in the daytime gives the body both movement and light. For night workers, though, morning light on the way home pushes the clock the wrong way, so the rule is the opposite; details are in Shift Work.
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In practice · Moving as a new parent or night worker
If you get up at night to feed a baby: in a study that measured sleep with wrist monitors in 50 mothers, total sleep each night from week 2 to week 16 after birth averaged about 7.2 hours. That sounds like plenty, but it was interrupted again and again, and sleep efficiency rose from about 80% at week 2 to about 90% only by week 16. So the hard part is often not short sleep but broken sleep. These months are not the time to force hard training; short, easy activity that you can stop at any moment fits best.Exercise also helps mood after birth. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists writes that physical activity can be an important factor in preventing postpartum depression. Poyatos-León 2017 pooled 12 controlled trials: exercise during pregnancy and after birth lowered postpartum depressive symptoms by a small to moderate amount, and more in mothers who already had depressive symptoms. When and how to return to training after birth should follow your postnatal check; see Pregnancy + exercise.
If you work night shifts: Craven 2022 found that the longer you are awake, the further performance falls. Following that pattern, staying up after a night shift to train is exactly when you have been awake longest and perform worst; exercising after you have slept makes more sense. That step has not been tested directly in night workers. If you worry about gaining weight after night shifts, the answer lies mostly in sleep and meal timing, not in extra training (see Shift Work).
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Red flag · When to stop and get help
The signs below are not the ordinary tiredness of short sleep; they need action right away. This site does not diagnose; if they appear, stop first.Sudden chest pain or tightness during or after training that feels like pressure or squeezing, may spread to the arm, neck or jaw, and comes with breathlessness or a cold sweat: it may be a heart emergency, so call emergency services now.Fainting during exercise: call emergency services now. Anyone who has fainted, even once, should see a doctor to find the cause.Marked breathlessness, a racing heart or feeling about to faint during exercise: stop at once and do not push through; if the symptoms do not settle, seek medical care right away.Drowsiness while driving to training or home after a night shift: do not drive after an all-nighter, and at the first sign of heavy eyelids on the road, pull over at once. After 24 hours awake, performance is at the level seen with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.10%, and when a microsleep comes, you do not notice it.Sleep that is long enough yet never refreshing, or loud snoring with daytime sleepiness so strong that you fall asleep whenever you sit down: this may be sleep apnea. If you are so sleepy in the daytime that you nod off while driving, stop driving and get a sleep study soon (see Obstructive Sleep Apnea).After having a baby, a low mood that has not passed after two weeks, or at any point in the first year a lasting low mood, loss of interest in things or struggling to feel close to your baby, may be postnatal depression, and you should see a doctor. If you have thoughts of harming yourself or your baby, get help now: in mainland China, call the national psychological assistance hotline 12356; wherever you are, you can go to your local emergency department (see Recovering After Birth and Breastfeeding).
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References · 16
- Craven, J., McCartney, D., Desbrow, B., Sabapathy, S., Bellinger, P., Roberts, L., & Irwin, C. (2022). Effects of acute sleep loss on physical performance: a systematic and meta-analytical review. Sports Medicine, 52(11), 2669-2690. 69 publications, 227 outcome measures, 959 participants (89% male); sleep loss defined as 6 h or less in 24 h. Overall performance change -7.56% (95% CI -11.9 to -3.13), significant for every exercise category: skill -20.9% (9 studies; tasks with a high cognitive component such as tennis serving or free-throw shooting), high-intensity interval exercise -6.15%, anaerobic power -6.26%, endurance -5.55%, speed/power endurance -2.90%, strength -2.85% (full text, Table 2). 'Consistent negative effects only observed with deprivation and late-restriction protocols' (late restriction = waking earlier than normal; early restriction = going to sleep later); the discussion adds that early restriction produced no change in performance 'except for skill and endurance tasks'; '~0.4% decrease for every hour awake prior to exercise' for deprivation and late restriction; 'The negative effects of sleep loss on different exercise tasks performed in the PM were consistent, while tasks performed in the AM were largely unaffected.' The authors attribute the larger skill effect to 'the higher cognitive demand' of those tasks (a proposed explanation). Conclusion: 'Sleep loss appears to have a negative impact on exercise performance. If sleep loss is anticipated and unavoidable, individuals should avoid situations that lead to experiencing deprivation or late restriction, and prioritise morning exercise in an effort to maintain performance' (abstract, PMID 35708888; full text, PMC9584849). 10.1007/s40279-022-01706-y
- Knowles, O. E., Drinkwater, E. J., Urwin, C. S., Lamon, S., & Aisbett, B. (2018). Inadequate sleep and muscle strength: implications for resistance training. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 21(9), 959–968. 10.1016/j.jsams.2018.01.012
- Dawson, D., & Reid, K. (1997). Fatigue, alcohol and performance impairment. Nature, 388(6639), 235. 10.1038/40775
- NHS. (2026). Heart attack: symptoms. Symptoms can include chest pain that may feel like crushing or squeezing on the chest and may spread to the arm, neck and jaw; feeling short of breath; feeling or being sick; feeling like indigestion; sweating; and pale, blue or grey skin. Call 999 for chest pain that feels tight or like squeezing, or that spreads to the arms, neck or jaw, with severe difficulty breathing, or if someone becomes unresponsive. A heart attack needs emergency treatment in hospital (page last reviewed 31 March 2026). www.nhs.uk/conditions/heart-attack/symptoms
- NHS. (2026). Fainting (page last reviewed 17 August 2026). Fainting is when you pass out for a short time; it is not usually serious, but anyone who has fainted should see a GP to find out what might have caused it. Causes can include standing up too quickly (which could be a sign of low blood pressure), not eating or drinking enough, being too hot, being very upset or in severe pain, heart problems, and taking drugs or drinking too much alcohol. Call 999 if someone is not breathing, cannot be woken up within 1 minute, has not fully recovered or has difficulty with speech or movement, has chest pain or a pounding, fluttering or irregular heartbeat (palpitations), has seriously hurt themselves before or after fainting, is shaking or jerking (a seizure), fainted while exercising, or fainted while lying down; do not drive yourself to A&E. If you feel about to faint: lie down with your legs raised, or if you cannot, sit with your head lowered between your knees; drink some water; cross your legs while standing up or rock up and down on your toes; clench your fists. If you see someone faint: check whether they respond by gently shaking their shoulders and asking loudly; if not, shout for help and tilt back the head and lift the chin; listen for breathing for at least 10 seconds; if they are breathing normally, lay them on their back and raise their legs (on their side if pregnant, especially over 28 weeks); they usually wake up within 30 seconds. www.nhs.uk/conditions/fainting
- Martin, B. J. (1981). Effect of sleep deprivation on tolerance of prolonged exercise. European Journal of Applied Physiology and Occupational Physiology, 47(4), 345-354. Eight subjects walked on a treadmill at about 80% of VO2max after normal sleep and after 36 h without sleep. Sleep loss reduced work time to exhaustion by an average of 11%; four subjects changed by less than 5% and four lost 15% to 40%. 'During the walk, sleep loss resulted in significantly greater perceived exertion (p less than 0.05), even though exercise heart rate and metabolic rate (VO2 and VCO2) were unchanged.' Conclusion: 'These findings suggest that the psychological effects of acute sleep loss may contribute to decreased tolerance of prolonged heavy exercise' (abstract, PMID 7199438). 10.1007/BF02332962
- Temesi, J., Arnal, P. J., Davranche, K., Bonnefoy, R., Levy, P., Verges, S., & Millet, G. Y. (2013). Does central fatigue explain reduced cycling after complete sleep deprivation? Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 45(12), 2243-2253. Twelve active males, one night of complete sleep deprivation versus normal sleep. After sleep deprivation, time to task failure was shorter (1137 vs 1236 s) and perceived exertion during 40 min of submaximal cycling was greater; mean reaction time was 8% longer before cycling; no other differences in neuromuscular function or cognitive control were observed between conditions, and acute submaximal exercise counteracted the cognitive deterioration. Conclusion: one night of complete sleep deprivation 'resulted in decreased time to task failure and cognitive performance and higher RPE compared with the control condition. The lack of difference in neuromuscular function between CO and SD indicates that decreased SD exercise performance was probably not caused by increased muscular or central fatigue' (abstract, PMID 23760468). 10.1249/MSS.0b013e31829ce379
- Oliver, S. J., Costa, R. J., Laing, S. J., Bilzon, J. L., & Walsh, N. P. (2009). One night of sleep deprivation decreases treadmill endurance performance. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 107(2), 155-161. Eleven males, two randomised trials: after normal sleep and after 30 h without sleep, a 30-min pre-load at 60% VO2max then a 30-min self-paced treadmill distance test. Less distance was covered after sleep deprivation (6037 vs 6224 m); cardio-respiratory parameters, RPE and speed did not differ during the pre-load or distance test (mean RPE 14.8 vs 14.9). Conclusion: 'one night of sleep deprivation decreased endurance performance with limited effect on pacing, cardio-respiratory or thermoregulatory function. Despite running less distance after sleep deprivation compared with control, participants' perception of effort was similar indicating that altered perception of effort may account for decreased endurance performance after a night without sleep' (abstract, PMID 19543909). 10.1007/s00421-009-1103-9
- Lamon, S., Morabito, A., Arentson-Lantz, E., Knowles, O., Vincent, G. E., Condo, D., Alexander, S. E., Garnham, A., Paddon-Jones, D., & Aisbett, B. (2021). The effect of acute sleep deprivation on skeletal muscle protein synthesis and the hormonal environment. Physiological Reports, 9(1), e14660. Randomized crossover in 13 healthy young adults (seven male, six female): one night of total sleep deprivation versus normal sleep. 'Acute sleep deprivation reduced muscle protein synthesis by 18%' (postprandial fractional synthesis rate, measured 13:00-15:00); plasma cortisol rose 21% and plasma testosterone fell 24%; no difference was found in markers of protein degradation. Conclusion: 'A single night of total sleep deprivation is sufficient to induce anabolic resistance and a procatabolic environment. These acute changes may represent mechanistic precursors driving the metabolic dysfunction and body composition changes associated with chronic sleep deprivation' (abstract, PMID 33400856). 10.14814/phy2.14660
- Donga, E., van Dijk, M., van Dijk, J. G., Biermasz, N. R., Lammers, G. J., van Kralingen, K. W., Corssmit, E. P. M., & Romijn, J. A. (2010). A single night of partial sleep deprivation induces insulin resistance in multiple metabolic pathways in healthy subjects. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 95(6), 2963–2968. 9 healthy adults (5 men, 4 women), crossover: a normal night vs one night of 4 h sleep (226 vs 454 min). Hyperinsulinaemic clamp next day: endogenous glucose production higher (hepatic insulin resistance), glucose disposal lower (32.5 vs 40.7), glucose infusion rate about 25% lower (abstract, PMID 20371664). 10.1210/jc.2009-2430
- Saner, N. J., Lee, M. J., Kuang, J., Pitchford, N. W., Roach, G. D., Garnham, A., Genders, A. J., Stokes, T., Schroder, E. A., Huo, Z., Esser, K. A., Phillips, S. M., Bishop, D. J., & Bartlett, J. D. (2021). Exercise mitigates sleep-loss-induced changes in glucose tolerance, mitochondrial function, sarcoplasmic protein synthesis, and diurnal rhythms. Molecular Metabolism, 43, 101110. 24 healthy young males allocated (to minimise baseline differences, not randomly) to Normal Sleep (8 h in bed for five nights), Sleep Restriction (4 h in bed for five nights) or Sleep Restriction plus three sessions of high-intensity interval exercise. The sleep-restriction group had reduced glucose tolerance, reduced mitochondrial respiratory function, a lower rate of sarcoplasmic protein synthesis and reduced amplitude of diurnal rhythms; 'These effects were not observed when incorporating three sessions of HIIE during this period.' Conclusion: 'A five-night period of sleep restriction leads to reductions in mitochondrial respiratory function, SarcPS, and amplitude of skin temperature diurnal rhythms, with a concurrent reduction in glucose tolerance. We provide novel data demonstrating that these same detrimental effects are not observed when HIIE is performed during the period of sleep restriction' (abstract, PMID 33137489). 10.1016/j.molmet.2020.101110
- Reed, J. L., & Pipe, A. L. (2014). The talk test: a useful tool for prescribing and monitoring exercise intensity. Current Opinion in Cardiology, 29(5), 475-480. 'In healthy adults and patients with cardiovascular disease, comfortable speech is likely possible (equivocal or last positive talk test stage) when exercise intensity is below the ventilatory or lactate threshold, and not likely possible (negative talk test stage) when exercise intensity exceeds the ventilatory or lactate threshold.' The talk test has been consistent across walking, jogging, cycling, elliptical trainer and stair stepper, and may not be practical for high-intensity interval training. Summary: it 'is a valid, reliable, practical and inexpensive tool for prescribing and monitoring exercise intensity in competitive athletes, healthy active adults and patients with cardiovascular disease' (abstract, PMID 25010379). 10.1097/HCO.0000000000000097
- Tefft, B. C. (2016). Acute sleep deprivation and risk of motor vehicle crash involvement. AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety Research Brief. aaafoundation.org/acute-sleep-deprivation-risk-motor-vehicle-crash-involvement
- Chung, F., Yegneswaran, B., Liao, P., Chung, S. A., Vairavanathan, S., Islam, S., Khajehdehi, A., & Shapiro, C. M. (2008). STOP questionnaire: a tool to screen patients for obstructive sleep apnea. Anesthesiology, 108(5), 812-821. 10.1097/ALN.0b013e31816d83e4
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2024). Urgent maternal warning signs (Hear Her campaign; last updated May 15, 2024). Be aware of urgent maternal warning signs during pregnancy and in the year after delivery, and seek medical care immediately for: a headache that won't go away or gets worse; dizziness or fainting; changes in vision; fever of 100.4°F or higher; extreme swelling of the hands or face; thoughts about harming yourself or your baby; trouble breathing; chest pain or fast-beating heart; severe nausea and throwing up; severe belly pain that doesn't go away; vaginal bleeding or discharge after pregnancy; severe swelling, redness or pain of a leg or arm. Tell providers if you were pregnant within the last year. www.cdc.gov/hearher/maternal-warning-signs/index.html
- Kredlow, M. A., Capozzoli, M. C., Hearon, B. A., Calkins, A. W., & Otto, M. W. (2015). The effects of physical activity on sleep: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 38(3), 427-449. Acute exercise → small improvements in sleep onset latency and total sleep time; chronic regular exercise → larger effects (latency ↓ ~13 min). Late-evening high-intensity work disrupts sleep. 10.1007/s10865-015-9617-6