This past weekend I was fortunate enough to evolve myself a bit further in the company of some of the world’s leading minds on the topic of performance, nutrition, and psychological expression at Paleo f(x) 2016. My favorite talk from the event came from Dr. Kirk Parsley, who is a former US Navy SEAL turned MD turned subject matter expert on sleep and its effects on health and human performance.
Dr. Parsley has the prevailing research and implications on how sleep affects us and the verdict is that it is much more paramount that we ever could have imagined. Consider that after one night of unsatisfactory sleep (less than ~8 hours) testosterone can drop thirty (30) percent. Thirty. Three, zero. Percent.
Still uninterested? Testosterone is the prevailing sex hormone for both men and women. Sure, women have less testosterone than men but the relationship remains congruent and just as vital for women.
To make matters worse, Dr. Parsley described that we’ve created a nearly arbitrary normal medical range for testosterone as 300-1100 on a blood panel. This creates scenarios where it may be quite common for a 92 year old man in assisted living deliver blood work regarding testosterone at 300, and an active Navy SEAL can walk into Doc Parsley’s office with a “normal” score of 320 after operating in scenarios of cortisol overload and lacking sleep. Though it may be clinically common to have poor testosterone expression, it’s far from normal.
To summarize, missing key sleep markers for a single night makes you thirty percent less operational as a human. Respect it.
Logan Gelbrich
@functionalcoach
6/1/16 WOD
10×10
Overhead Squats
AMRAP 8
200m Run
10 Pullups
20 DB Hang Power Cleans (50/30)