I hope everyone knows by now how important sleep is when it comes to muscle growth. If you wonder why, or if it’s the first time you hear that sleep is crucial for growing muscle, then this article is perfect for you. You need to know that you are maximizing muscle growth through sleep. Many tend to think that muscles grow when you’re in the gym lifting weights. This comes from the fact that when you lift heavy weights, you tend to get the pump which makes you appear bigger. We love it and we chase it. Nonetheless, when your muscles pump in the gym after lifting weights, they do not grow. The pump is nothing else than water filling your muscles in an attempt to recover the damage that you’re doing to your muscles when lifting weights.
That’s right. When you lift heavy weight, the muscles do not grow, you actually tear the muscle fibers apart. Water and oxygen go to those muscle fibers in an attempt to recover the damage you’re doing to them when lifting heavy weights. Then, your body uses the foods that you consume to grow bigger and stronger… when you sleep. So, lifting weights causes micro tears in your muscles. The body tries to defend itself against this stress by growing bigger and stronger muscles to deal with that stress. That’s why, if you don’t consume enough food and wouldn’t sleep enough while lifting weights too frequently, you’d actually lose muscles, instead of growing. It is because the muscles would constantly tear, not receiving enough food and not having enough time (rest and sleep) to grow bigger.
With this being said, I hope you realize how sleep can improve your gains.
Science and Sleep
Based on all the information I already shared, I hope you realized that to maximize muscle growth, what you’re doing outside of the gym is just as important as what you’re doing during your gym session. In order to improve muscle growth, you need to eat and rest. And the better you eat and the better you rest, the more muscle growth potential you have.
- Sleep is a natural part of our circadian rhythm. We need rest in between days exactly as much as our muscles require rest in between workout sets. Just think about it – you just can’t continue lifting 5 sets of heavy weights without any rest in between. Optimal sleep is going to lead to huge improvements in muscle recovery and cognitive function (among numerous other benefits).
Walking sleep deprived is definitely not a badge of honor, it actually indicates that you’re not taking muscle growth seriously. Little to no sleep is associated with reduced strength training performance and a huge decrease in muscle recovery abilities. Among numerous other negative effects. One study demonstrated the negative effects lack of sleep has on compound movements. Having this said, if you want to perform compound movements correctly, (it should be a priority in your workout routine to grow muscle), you need to sleep.
Overnight Muscle Growth
During sleep, the bodies tend to shift into a fast state. (That’s why, by the way, we call it – breakfast, you basically break the fasting state). Having this said, you could assume that the body would catabolize during this state, however, that’s not really true. Considering that the heart rate significantly slows down during sleep, we do not use as much energy as we use during the day. Considering that it barely needs any energy, the body only relies on pre-stored energy (which is fat) to feed itself and remain satiated. So, if you want to make sure your muscles recover and grow overnight, you better pay attention to what you eat before sleeping. That could significantly help improve the overnight muscle-protein synthesis.
According to studies, having some late-night protein intake can help improve muscle protein synthesis and overall muscle mass overnight. Most muscle-protein synthesis occurs during sleep. While the body is resting from the day’s work, it uses that time to repair the body and muscles. Not to mention that it is during sleep that our bodies release most hormones that help us recover. Moreover, the recovery of growth hormones can significantly be enhanced with the help of amino acids (which you get from protein).
The whole food options such as lean meat and non-fat dairy contain high profiles of those muscle building blocks. When talking about supplements (animal and plant-based), you need to check the labels to make sure that they have the essential amino acids. You need to include those nutrients in your dinner or nighttime supplements because they will provide the body with the necessary material to repair itself the way that it needs to.
Carbs at Night?
Protein is essential for muscle growth and it can significantly help improve muscle protein synthesis and therefore, muscle growth. However, carbohydrates also play a role in overnight muscle-protein synthesis. Those foods will use insulin to send tryptophan and amino acids to the brain. Tryptophan is a precursor to serotonin. It is a vital sleep inducer. Nonetheless, it is important to combine those carbs with protein. That’s because if you don’t, then tryptophan may not be activated and it won’t work. Therefore, you can have some carbs at night, but make sure to combine them with enough protein to make sure the muscles continue growing.
Sweet Dreams
It is extremely important to understand that sleep is a vital part of your life. It is even more important when you’re trying to gain muscle. High quality sleep is the most important part of muscle recovery, allowing the body and mind to cool down and maintain its health. When it comes to building muscles, the three most important factors include: exercising, dieting, and… sleeping. We can eat correctly and we can train correctly, but you won’t achieve your muscle-building potential without sleeping enough.
Moreover, keep in mind that what we eat can change the way you recover overnight. But there is significantly more to that. For example, light exposure at night may impact your sleep rhythms in a negative way. Dimmed lights and less screen time may significantly contribute to increased levels of serotonin, leading to better quality sleep. Besides, vitamins may improve sleep quality too, such as Vitamin D and Omega 3. Not to mention that Magnesium, Melatonin, vitamins E, and C as well as B vitamins can all help too.
Sleep is an art that you must master, similar to the art of dieting and the art of working out that you should master to achieve success. The way you will sleep tonight will significantly impact the way you function tomorrow, so you better improve your schedule.
Improve Sleep Quality
If you want to improve muscle growth, you need to improve sleep quality. As said, that’s an art that you must master. Most people talk about sleep duration, which is without any doubt an extremely important thing to consider. However, there’s also the quality of sleep that you need to pay attention to. For example, it is true that you should get seven or more hours every night on a regular basis. Those who regularly lift heavy weights may need even more hours of sleep at night so their bodies can recover.
But when it comes to sleep quality, there are various things you should try to implement in your regime. For example, your sleep must be as uninterrupted as possible. This allows your brain to go through adequate amounts of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep and enough rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, both of which are crucial for a restful night’s sleep. Besides, your bed and wake up timing must be as consistent as possible. The human body has a natural circadian rhythm with clock genes that will dictate sleep and wakefulness. Your body will fail to optimally operate if you wake up and/or go to sleep at varying times throughout the week.
Other ways to improve your sleep quality are:
- Stay in bed for at least 8 hours so you could get at least 7 hours of actual sleep
- Keep a consistent bedtime and wake-up time every day
- Avoid caffeine intake at least 6 hours before going to bed
- Have your last large meal three hours before bed
- Avoid drinking anything one hour before bed
- Turn off all notifications on your electronic devices
- Stop using any screens at least one hour before sleeping
- Keep your bedroom as dark as possible and keep it on the cooler side
- Use a white noise machine to prevent outside sounds from waking you up
- Try to get direct sunlight throughout the day especially as soon as you wake up
- Try breathing techniques that can help relax, meditation, gentle stretching, yoga, etc.
- Use supplements and vitamins that help improve sleep
- Use HGH from HGH.to as it was proven highly effective at improving sleep quality. HGH was proven by lots of studies to improve sleep quality and at HGH.to you can find the best quality products for the cheapest prices on the market.