Let’s see how sleep and rest influence muscle development and recovery capacity between workouts; You will be surprised how important sleep is when training.
More and more people train in different disciplines, and in many situations, elements such as food, sports equipment or physical routine are prioritized over other fields that are just as important.
Although there are some sections that are overlooked by the amateur sports community, such as getting enough sleep a determining element and even more so if you train with weights.
The importance of sleeping in training
Enjoying adequate sleep is not only essential in high muscle intensity activities, it is also key in other sports disciplines.
Our society is increasingly opening up to the world of sports and minority activities such as Yoga, a fashionable sport among celebrities such as the singer Ricky Martin, the actress Elsa Pataky or the poker player Adrienne Rowsome, are becoming mass phenomena.
Enjoying adequate rest that offers us a few hours of quality sleep can become a determining factor in relation to achieving the goals we want.
In the specific field of bodybuilding, when we sleep, a particularly interesting factor takes place protein synthesis.
It is a process carried out by our body in which proteins are created, they help muscle recovery, creating new tissues and causing our muscles to grow.
For this procedure to be carried out correctly we need to sleep at least 8 hours, a fact that will help our muscle tissue to rest, regenerate and gain strength and endurance.
Obviously, the fact of not enjoying adequate rest will also directly affect the performance of our training, reducing our physical capacities and causing the effects of harmful overtraining.
How to improve sleep between workout routines?
In order to fall asleep there are various activities that we should eliminate from our daily routine; such as drinking alcohol, drinking caffeine in the hours before going to sleep, training at the last minute or viewing the screen of electronic devices, a situation that has become every day for many people.
- Lack of sleep will also cause glucose alterations, modify our cortisol levels and minimize the presence of testosterone in the male sector, a fact that will affect the synthesis of certain elements such as the aforementioned proteins.
- While we sleep, almost the entire daily dose of growth hormone is also generated, a transcendental element that also helps muscle recovery.
- If we do not sleep the hours that our body demands, the levels of this hormone are reduced, hindering joint repair and creating discomfort in our body.
- Another element that can help establish a sleep routine is the establishment of fixed schedules that we have to comply with in a self-imposed way.
- Always sleeping at the same time will directly affect our biological clock and will help us feel better, eliminating irritability caused by the lack of rest and improving our general mood.
The choice of a good mattress can also become a very important factor when it comes to achieving a total rest, we have to consult all the existing types and choose the one that best suits our needs.
It is a highly subjective element; it is better to present yourself on site to a specialized establishment that can advise us on the inherent characteristics of construction materials.
Finally, one of the elements that we must also avoid before heading to bed is the intake of heavy meals, an element that may be obvious but that many people overlook.
A complicated digestion can alter our sense of relaxation and make it difficult to fall asleep.
As we can see, sleeping becomes an aspect that must be taken care of very carefully if we are interested in carrying out muscular activities. If you follow these tips, you will see how your performance improves, both physically and psychologically.