Sleep for muscle growth – how important is it? Your workout today is chest and triceps followed by cardio. Like your last several training sessions, you’re exhausted and lethargic after 20 minutes on the treadmill. Don’t overlook poor sleep habits as a possible problem. Sleep deprivation can have varying effects on your health. It can hinder the way your body metabolizes certain foods and your preparation for athletic performance.

Sleep For Muscle Growth – What Happens During Sleep?

As bodybuilders we are always attentive to new and helpful ways to gain muscle. The finest exercise routine, diet and supplement program will not make up for inadequate rest. Sleep is the best, and only way of getting this rest. Growth hormone is produced and protein synthesis occurs during sleep. Sleep assists a lot of other very important functions.

For example:

• The replacement of ageing and dead cells. Plus the mending of muscle and other tissue
• The lowering of energy consumption
• The recharging of the brain

Rest is one of the most important principles of exercise and often the most overlooked. When you sleep, your body goes into a suspended state of animation. It does precisely what you’ve been asking it to do ever since you raised that first dumbbell. Build muscle. If you’ve just started lifting, give your body parts at least 48 hours to recover between workouts.

Consistent Sleep For Muscle Growth

All mammals, birds and fish observe a regular state of natural rest. The role of sleep in health and disease is increasingly being studied in specialized sleep laboratories. Restorative theories of sleep describe it as a time of healing and growth for organisms. Non-REM sleep is an anabolic situation. It’s marked by physiological processes of growth. Also,, the rejuvenation of the organism’s immune, nervous, muscular and skeletal systems.

Sleep is perhaps best described as the loss of awareness of what is going on around us. Public awareness of fitness and nutrition has grown over the last few years. Sadly little is known about the very important subject of sleep disorders. Why do we suffer from sleep deprivation? Stress and anxiety is a major cause. It’s also a vicious cycle. While stress can actually cause our lack of sleep, it is also a result of it.

Animal Research

There have been studies on the effects of sleep for muscle growth. Animal studies have revealed that sleep is essential for survival. The usual lifetime of rats is 2-3 years. However, rats deprived of sleep live only for about 3 weeks. The metabolic activity of the human brain declines considerably after 24 hours of sustained wakefulness. Sleep is required for our nervous systems to work right. Deep sleep is also necessary for the release of growth hormone in children and young adults.

Few bodybuilders realize how important sleep is.

Check the list below and see which items apply to you:

Do you:

• Frequently have trouble falling asleep at the correct time?
• Often find it painful to get up in the morning due to sleepiness?
• Find yourself regularly lethargic at school or at work?
• Frequently slash sleep by 2-3 hours in contrast to what your body requires?
• Use the alarm clock and actually detest it?
• Drink buckets of coffee?
• Often take 2-4 hour naps?
• Experience regular stress or reduced productivity?

Many people think that they only need 3-4 hours of sleep. Facts state that sleep requirements are greatly individualized. Still, the majority of people require 7-8 hours to function optimally. The quality of sleep diminishes with age. The need for sleep does not. Scientists say that the body is as dynamic during sleep as it is when we’re awake.

Sleep For Muscle Growth – It’s More Important Than You May Think!

Rest could be critically important if you want to gain muscle. Sleep could be the best workout partner you’ll ever have. Depriving yourself of those Zzzz’s limits your capacity to develop muscle. It also messes up your coordination and mental focus. This could be decoded as less strength and a greater possibility of getting hurt.

You’ve known about the importance of protein for as long as you can remember. The reason behind taking a protein supplement before bedtime is simple. In the night, when you go hours on end without eating, amino acid levels in your body are radically reduced. Less protein is being ferried to your muscles.Your odds of getting bigger – and even keeping the size you already have, get smaller.

Sleep Deprivation

Studies show that those who suffer from sleep deprivation have a reduced ability to handle stress. They also have poor concentration and memory. Also, slower reflexes, difficulty accomplishing tasks, and diminished enjoyment of relationships. Sleep-related hormone imbalances could result in memory problems. It may also mean more body fat, and higher susceptibility to infections. If you get inadequate sleep, you are using your brain on a metabolically depleted level.

Sleep For Muscle Growth – Don’t Skimp On Sleep!

When you skimp on sleep, the following day’s training session is hurt by your lack of sleep. Also, you also hamper a number of processes in your body that only occur during periods of deep sleep. You also make friends with Cortisol. That’s a catabolic hormone that breaks down muscle. It’s present in higher levels when you are mentally stressed. Get your Zzzz’s, at least 7-8 hours a night. Sleep for muscle growth – it’s important, don’t skimp!