How Can I Balance Training & Sleep as a Busy Parent?

Answering a listener's question.

A couple Mondays a month, we revisit one of the listener questions we’ve answered in a previous episode. It’s been edited for clarity & brevity.

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PATRICK: Here's a question from Craig, a father of three young girls (ages 5, 3, and 1). He's facing a challenge with sleep deprivation - between bedwetting, teething, and nightmares keeping him up at night.

Craig balances a demanding job as a detective with a training schedule of running three times a week and CrossFit four times a week. He exercises early in the morning to be present for his family in the evenings.

His question is:

Given the importance of sleep for overall health, should he maintain his training routine even if it means sacrificing sleep, or should he prioritize sleep and reduce training? How can he find the right balance to be the best father and role model while taking care of himself?

BEN: This is a great question. Craig sounds like one of us - what a stud. Three young girls, a detective, and dealing with sleep issues.

It's really about finding that balance between training and sleep. Looking at Craig's schedule - he's training basically 6-7 days a week.

Here's my rule of thumb: if you're getting less than 6 hours of sleep, stay in bed instead of training. Get a little extra sleep. But if you're aiming for 7-8 hours and only get 6 hours and 45 minutes? No big deal, dude - get up and train.

The research is clear - exercise is incredibly powerful for your health. Matt Walker might disagree, but almost nothing is as detrimental to your health as exercise is beneficial.

He’s doing great stuff with CrossFit and running, but - and here’s where maybe Craig might want to adjust - he probably doesn’t need to do quite that much.

My suggestion is to give yourself permission to skip training occasionally.

If you have a really rough night once a week, take that day off.

Remember the 6-hour rule - anything less than that is true sleep deprivation. Don’t try to train through that. Just get the sleep you need and be okay getting back to training tomorrow.

PATRICK: And to his point about being the best father and role model - that’s really hard to do when you're consistently sleep-deprived, and everything makes you grumpy by 7 pm.

BEN: Exactly.