The Yachtie Glow: Sleep or exercise? Which is better after working long hours?

The Yachtie Glow: by Angela Orecchio

After working long days on board, stews often wonder if they should skip their exercise and sleep more the next day. The answer completely depends on the person and the situation, however, there are ways you can gauge what is best for you in the moment.

Choose your exercise

After a 12- to 15-hour day, 30 minutes of cardio or a very intense HIIT workout may not be the best for your health. Rather, choose efficient toning exercises you can do in a short period that will raise your heart rate a bit but not wear you out more than needed. This will keep your muscles toned so you don’t lose them when you’re not able to do longer workouts.

Try this 10-minute toning workout for arms and abs:

• 15x Tricep Dips
• 15x Pushups
• 15x Plank elbow to knee
• 1 minute Plank

Repeat for a total of 10 minutes.

Know your body

If you’re completely worn out from working and have not had a break all day, you may need the extra rest. Plan to work out a few days a week if you can, and take special care of areas of your body that need rest or stretching. Instead of an intense toning workout, you might choose to do 10 minutes of stretching/yoga instead. Either way your body will thank you for the movement and care.

Give yourself a chance to have the most energy

When you’re tired and over worked, the last thing your body needs to do is fight off junk food and heavy, greasy meals.

Eat more fruits and veggies than you normally would and plan ahead to have healthy snacks at your disposal. This may include fruit, fruit and nut bars, rice cakes etc.

In addition, don’t forget to drink plenty of regular water. Add lime or other fruit for taste and to boost vitamins and minerals.

Let it go

Ultimately, if you can’t exercise as much as you normally would because you’re working long hours without a break, let the mental chatter about it go. Do what you can, when you can and resolve to not give up entirely just because you’ve had some time off.

Eventually, you’ll recover from the long hours and you’ll be able to get back into your healthy lifestyle again.

Angela Orecchio is a chief stew, certified fitness instructor and health coach. This column was edited from her blog, Savvy Stewardess, The Smart Girl’s Guide to Yachting (www.savvystewardess.com). Comments are welcome below.