Is it counterproductive to do weightlifting if you only get 6 hours of sleep a night?

I used to weight lift but haven't for a couple years. I want to start again but I'm so busy now that I only get 6 hours of sleep a night, although I can normally catch up on weekends. Would it be counter-productive for me to start weightlifting? I don't want to overtrain. If I eat extra well will that help compensate for not getting 8 hours of sleep a night?|||Sleep deprivation is one of the worst tortures known to man, and has been used in many concentration camps to break prisoners down. One time, I went without sleep for forty-eight hours, and found myself hallucinating.





Sleep requirements vary, but sleep researchers tell us that eight hours is what the average person needs. Seven is considered minimal, but some people can do all right averaging seven hours sleep a night.





You make it clear that you are sleep deprived now, as you "catch up on weekends." You are building a sleep debt nearly every day, and you should try to figure out some way to get that eight hours your body craves each night. Even President Obama can find the time to get a full night's sleep, so you can too.





When you build a sleep debt, it affects you in subtle ways. One is a chronic feeling of tiredness, and this is not how you need to feel before a weightlifting workout. There are too many health benefits of sleep to list here, but click on the first link below so you can see for yourself.





Can eating well compensate for lack of sleep? Absolutely not. Nothing can take the place of sleep. This is the time when our bodies repair themselves, and shorting ourselves out of sleep is tantamount to slow suicide.





Please do whatever you can to extend your sleeping hours to about eight a night. I can virtually guarantee you that when you raise your body's energy level by getting the requisite amount of sleep, you will have much less of a problem motivating yourself. Yes, it's a busy world out there, but the only way we can deal with it adequately is by being well rested every day.





God bless you. I hope you can integrate both weightlifting and more sleep into your busy life.|||no you won't lose any muscle mass, just the lack of sleep will hurt your gains.|||Do all of the above........you don't have to wear yourself out.......but to have a diet and exercise program going is good for anyone. Good luck and you will probably feel better is my guess..........just don't over do it.|||With proper diet and training, you'll still make gains though it won't be as much as if you're getting enough rest. As you mention, your body's recovery time is reduced so you may need to compensate for that in your training schedule. Sleep is the primary recovery time for muscles so my advice is to get it where you can. That being said, the positive aspects of resistance training will still far outweigh any negative aspects so I say go for it!