Go to bed early with your CPAP machines or get a few extra minutes at the gym?

As you know, most of the contestants on The Biggest Loser use sleep apnea equipment to treat their OSA. How do they balance sleep and exercise?

The Biggest Loser contestants are challenged daily to learn all the tools to maintain weight loss and a healthy lifestyle.

These include exercise, nutrition and yes, sleep. Which is the most important? It’s about finding a balance to do them all.

There is a wealth of information regarding exercise and nutrition and how important they are to being healthy. Our daily lives are inundated with messages to exercise and eat healthy and they even provide information on how to do that!

Maybe you have been exercising and eating right for months now. Even so, you still have been feeling run down and can’t seem to get those extra pounds off.

What’s missing? Healthy sleep.?

Whether you have apnea or not, sleep plays a very vital role in this health equation. It is just as important as exercise and nutrition for your health.

Most of us look at sleep as a nuisance. Some of us even brag about how little sleep we can get and still function.

The reality is, no matter how hard you exercise or how well you eat, without proper rest you will not be on your “A” game.

Sleep affects everything. Your mood, work performance, exercise, weight loss, and general health. Proper sleep allows our body to recover and is necessary for our bodies to function on a healthy level. Sleep is a very ACTIVE state of being. Your body works hard to regulate all the biological processes that prepare for and aid your body and mind so they can rest and recover from a hard day’s work.

When we don’t spend enough time in bed to get the sleep we need or when sleep time in bed is disrupted, the rest and recovery doesn’t happen properly.

People who have sleep apnea, have an even greater challenge when it comes to good sleep because their bodies wake them up several times every hour to breathe disrupting the rhythm of rest and recovery.

Those of you, who have obstructive sleep apnea that is untreated, can spend 8 hours in bed and only get 4 or less hours of sleep! Would you put your money in an investment where for every $8 you put in you only get $4 back? An estimated 18 million Americans have sleep apnea, including most of our TBL friends.

Untreated sleep apnea (or not using you sleep apnea devices) not only affects your day to day ability to function, but can lead to some serious health problems including obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke and diabetes.

Sleep apnea gone undiagnosed can leads to a vicious cycle of unhealthy living. It starts with daytime sleepiness.

When we are tired we are less likely to make healthy choices such as exercising and eating right. Even if we do make it to the gym, our workouts are less efficient.

If we don’t get enough sleep, we are less motivated to take the time for healthy meals and tend to grab something quick and usually unhealthy. This leads to weight gain.

Our sleep is directly related to our appetite and metabolism as well. This provides further evidence that sleep and obesity are linked.

What does this all mean? What should The Biggest Loser contestants do – sleep or exercise?

No one knows what the perfect balance needs is. What we do know is that sleep, exercise, and nutrition are all critically important to the healthy lifestyle we all strive to attain.

As for our friends at the ranch, they are learning if one of these components is left out, all of the othersm may suffer. We look forward to talking to them and giving you more insight into how they balance it all as the season continues.

For now, get your rest and wear your CPAP !!