When it comes to your exercise routine, it's imperative to ensure that you have enough time between your sessions to recover. However, what about your sleep? Does your sleep play a role in your rest and recovery, specifically your muscle repair and growth? Interestingly enough, the quality of your rest overnight can help with muscle growth and repair much more than you may realize.
In this article, we’ll discuss how our bodies repair and grow our muscles and the connection this has to sleep. We’ll also explore the specific ways that our sleep encourages muscle recovery and growth, specifically looking at the stages of sleep that contribute to this process. Finally, we’ll also look at the consequences of inadequate rest and ways you can improve your downtime from working out.
Before we get into what you can do to encourage better muscle repair and growth, let’s explore why sleep is connected to this process.
How Our Bodies Repair and Grow Muscles
After a hard workout at the gym, you feel sore, and there’s a good reason for that. Whether you’re lifting weights or pushing yourself to the limit in the pool, your muscles get stressed and often can show micro tears, a sign that you’re actually growing muscle. Scientists over the years have shown how exercise can even restructure the skeletal muscle, improving its performance over time.
However, what you might not have known about muscle recovery and repair is that certain hormones, like melatonin, can encourage stronger post-workout recovery. That’s right! The sleep hormone that helps you enjoy great rest overnight is also shown to improve your recovery from exercises, even just through supplementation (Source: Endocrine). So, melatonin, among other growth hormones, helps our bodies repair muscles overnight so we have a faster recovery and continue to hit our exercise goals.
Aside from melatonin, our sleep stages, specifically non-REM sleep, also have an essential role in promoting muscle recovery.
How Our Sleep Cycles Promote Muscle Recovery
When we lie down at night and finally get to sleep, we go through several sleep stages, many of which are critical for our physical recovery, including muscle repair and growth. Just like our bodies rely on melatonin to help encourage recovery from exercise, we also rely on our non-REM sleep stages.
During non-REM, or rather Stages N1, N2, and N3, we gradually get into deep sleep. However, what many people do not realize is that the slow-wave sleep we enjoy during N3 is vital for our physical recovery. Studies have shown that this is when the growth hormone is released and when our bodies begin to repair the muscle fibers and micro tears we have likely incurred from our workouts.
If you encounter sleep disruptions, especially during Stage N3, it makes sense that you might not have the muscle repair and recovery that you need to see optimal results in the gym. Unfortunately, some elite athletes suffer from conditions like insomnia, leading to them experiencing daytime sleepiness and potentially even an increased likelihood of injuries. Let’s look more at what happens to our bodies when we don’t get adequate rest.
What Happens When We Don’t Get Enough Rest?
When we train in the gym and don’t get enough sleep, many challenges might arise. As mentioned above, you might find yourself more likely to experience injuries because the growth hormones and healing have not occurred during your deep sleep. However, there are other issues that you should be concerned about, too.
While you can expect a higher chance of injuries, you can also expect that you’ll see other changes to your body, too. One of the most common people seen in those who lack proper sleep as athletes is the increase in cortisol or the stress hormone. One study on healthy young adults showed that acute sleep deprivation led to a 21% increase in the stress hormone within the body, as well as a 24% decrease in testosterone, an essential hormone in the muscle recovery and repair process (Source: Physiological Reports).
Another issue you might encounter is overtraining syndrome, which can be marked by higher levels of inflammation and even some immune system dysfunction. So, if you find yourself feeling a little more bloated, even sick, after you’ve been training hard in the gym and lacking proper rest and recovery at night, it might be time for you to catch a break. When we don’t get enough rest, our bodies start to react, and we might end up sick or even injured, but here are some tips to help you enjoy optimal rest so you enjoy enhanced muscle recovery.
How to Encourage Optimal Rest to Support Muscle Health
With all of the challenges and risks that result from a lack of sleep, it’s essential to take steps to promote your muscle health. If you find yourself worried about potential injuries or improper rest due to sleep disruptions, here are some tips to help you get optimal rest and enjoy better health and well-being:
- Stick to a Schedule: Getting into the best shape or hitting those exercise goals can be a thrilling experience, but don’t forget to take some time off, too, and stick to a schedule. Start out small with your workouts and leave at least a day or two in between so you don’t overdo it and potentially cause an injury.
- Consider Taking Naps: While it might not be feasible for everyone, naps can be an excellent way to earn back some rest you might have lost overnight. One study showed that napping can actually help prevent performance degradation due to sleep loss. So, feel free to grab a pillow and a blanket and catch a brief cat nap before your competition!
- Create a Relaxing Sleep Environment: If you are someone who wakes up frequently or has trouble getting to sleep, it might be your environment. Try to create as calming of an environment as possible, eliminate the distractions, and focus on genuinely getting prepared for bed. It might take some time, but it will definitely help you feel more rested and prepared for the gym or the field!
How Will You Support Muscle Repair and Recovery?
Sleep is crucial to muscle health, so it’s vital to ensure you are supporting your health and well-being, even beyond the gym. We hope you learned a great deal about how sleep, muscle repair, and growth are connected and what you can do to optimize your muscle health. For more information on how to encourage better sleep, visit our website today to read the latest articles.
