15 July 2008
Growing Muscles While Sleeping
Posted by Lena Hellsten under: Sport .
A lot of people go to the gym, they work out properly and are eating high quality food. Still they don’t seem to gain muscles in the speed that would be expected for the effort they put in. For those that are sincerely focusing and still not able to grow as fast as they wish there might be something else then effort that’s missing.
Sleep.
Sleep is one of the most important factors for your ability to grow muscles and if you’re not giving yourself a high quality sleep after working out you will have to put in double effort for the same results. How is the quality of your sleep? Do you have a shallow sleep with lots of waking up during the night? Is your mind keeping you awake for hours after you’ve gone to bed? By examining your sleep you can easier find ways to improve the quality of it.
Most of the bodily growth is happening while we are sleeping and this includes muscle growth. Look at the kids; you might sometimes think they grew an inch while sleeping and this is not so far from the truth. They sleep a lot more than adults and it is during these valuable hours that their bodies grow the most.
The amount of growth hormones increases after about 40 minutes into the sleep. Then your body is using all the nutrition you’ve giving it in the evening to renew itself and build the muscles on cellular level. With a good sleep you also raise the levels of testosterone which is one of the main hormones for natural growth.
When you’re missing out on a good nights sleep, your body is not able to do the transit from work-mode to relax-mode. In this way you slow down the building up process that happens naturally while in the relaxed state.
If you find that you have problems going to sleep or having a light sleep, there are different things that can aid you in this. First of all, don’t stress out about it, if you’re worrying too much about not being able to sleep, this will be what really hinders you from falling asleep. Take your time in the evenings to wind down from all that has happened during the day, have some calming herbal tea, like chamomile or peppermint, or have a cup of warm milk.
There are many things you can do to wind down before going to bed; read a good book, listen to calming music and/or have some pleasant conversation with your partner or a friend. You can also try some relaxing exercises, such as hypnosis. Do what feels right for you.
Even though you want to eat something not too far before you’re going to bed for your body to be able to grow the most, you might feel that it’s easier to fall asleep if your body has been able to digest the food properly. Make your last meal one with a good amount of protein and fat and you can have it maybe one or two hours before going to bed.
Some people rely on medication to fall asleep easier. This is not recommended over a long period of time since it usually makes the sleep less deep and the body can get dependent on them too.
If you give your body the time it needs to be able to do the work that it needs to do, you’ll be amazed to see how fast your muscles can grow.