Improved Sleep And Its Relationship With Overcoming Isometrics
“I believe the more nerves you bring into play in training the better overall health you’ll have and the better your energy… In my opinion, the better you train your nerves the faster your body recuperates and the less sleep you’ll need.” (p 21 Steve Justa, Iron isometrics)
Disclaimer: I’m not a doctor, but I find value in putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
I’ve always been regimented about my sleep. Some might be able to get by on less than five hours of sleep but for me that means disaster. I’ve spent most of my adult life in the armed forces so days with little sleep were a common occurrence. Sleep helps us recuperate from the events of the day and for our body's repair.
I once read a book awhile back that theorized that the reason the rates of PTSD are higher now than in past warfare is due to the nature of combat and fighting during the night instead of getting some sleep. You’re always on alert, always in Fight or Flight. Not in Rest and Digest. Now, there have been night attacks and PTSD throughout the history of warfare but the information is pointing to this getting worse. War, what is it good for am I right!?!?!
But anyways sleep is important. Don’t let those “science” articles comparing our sleep duration to modern hunter-gatherers deter you. They have a different environment that allows them to get quicker more efficient sleep.
But we still have options. I mentioned in the above video how the more I do overcoming isometrics throughout the week it helps me to get better sleep. But why is this? Is it just a placebo effect? Maybe, but if you got to know me you’d probably realize I’m among the most negative people you’d ever meet. With the lack of studies on this, I have to go to the drawing board.
Aerobic or anaerobic?
Various training modalities can be along the spectrum of working out. On one side is
Lower intensity
Longer duration
Uses oxygen for fuel
Improves your cardiovascular system
This is aerobic training. While on the other side…
High Intensity
Shorter Duration
Uses glucose as fuel.
This is anaerobic training. In between these two sides provides a mixture of both.
Where does overcoming isometrics fit in? Well anywhere depending on the duration of your contractions, the intensity of your contractions, and lastly your breathing. But given that cardio-type exercises, the aerobic, are correlated with better sleep I believe using overcoming isometrics in this way will yield the best results though the duration won’t have to be as long.
Remember, aerobic is something that generally challenges your heart and breathing and makes them stronger over time. Isometrics studies have shown that they improve your blood pressure meaning that your circulation has improved. Keep in mind that the studies that analyze this are only focused on just hand gripping. They fail to show any improvement in heart rate variability meaning there is no improvement in your heart's ability to remain in a rest and digest state. But, given that these studies only had one body part engaged in overcoming isometrics it’s kinda obvious that the results on heart rate variability would be nonexistent. I believe a study done on full-body overcoming isometrics (neck to toes) would yield better results.
Circulation
This is important for overall health and sleep. Looking at this from an electric engineering standpoint, bad resistance in a system means less efficiency for the work that needs to be done. In terms of the human body, this means that the nutrients never get a chance to flow to the places they're supposed to, or that the waste stays in places loitering where they are not supposed to be.
A short/full-body routine is best. Circuit training or heart peripheral action training is geared toward improving your body’s ability to send blood from one part of the body to another. You jump into an upper body movement, toward a lower body, then onto the core, and so on. I don’t believe any set pattern will matter as long as you are switching between movements that incorporate a large number of muscle groups. Meaning, don’t just focus on a tricep isometric then jump over to a calf isometric. A more ideal approach would be something that engaged your tricep, shoulder, forearm, and chest then transition over to something that engages your thighs, butt, and calves.
CNS Disorders/Fatigue
There’s a list of CNS disorders. But for most individuals, if we’re not careful we can succumb to CNS Fatigue. The most important symptom of both the CNS Disorders and CNS Fatigue that’s related to this post is a lack of quality sleep.
Therefore, if one’s inefficiency or weakness in their CNS means poor sleep what will the opposite do?
The How
As I said above, “neck to toe.” So find an overcoming isometric posture you enjoy for each body part going on down. This e-book will have some if you’re interested but I have plenty of them spread throughout my posts. The duration of the isometric does not have to be long nor does the intensity have to be high. I’ve found that low intensity (40 - 60%) and performing my force generations in a burst, meaning for just one second, work best for me. I get into position, breathing in, and then I exert for one second. Once I’m done I try to relax momentarily before I engage in a few more bursts. Five to ten is the sweet spot. Any more than that turns it into a mini-workout. The goal is to nourish and partially stimulate. Additionally, it doesn’t have to be done all at once. You can perform neck and upper body burst-overcoming isometrics in the morning and core and legs in the evening.
I’ve found this works best after my walks throughout the day. Your blood is already circulating and you have already warmed up. Therefore, jump into giving your muscular and nervous system a bit of a jolt.
Wrap Up
The purpose of these stimulation sessions is that you go through the day with more energy in each step, in each movement, and in each word. That you wake up from your night's sleep not groggy, but ready to take on the day. Heck, you might not even need that cup of coffee.
Thank you for making it to the end and comments are below.
Until next time.