Got Sleep? - Deep Sleep for Optimal Gains

Okay, picture this…you’ve been giving it some thought as of late, it’s time for change. You’ve eaten a big bowl of inspiration and washed it down a large glass of determination, you’ve thought meticulously about how you’re gonna train and what you’re gonna eat for the next 12-16 weeks..

You’re ready!

But did you know that as much as we’re all aware that sleep is important to us, we take it as a given because it’s what comes naturally, but unfortunately it doesn’t come naturally to all of us.

There are 5 phases of a typical sleep cycle, but I want to focus a little on the one that potentially effects all of us as athletes and our gains. Phase #5 and the deep part of sleep.

Inadequate levels of sleep, and more, a lack of deep quality restful sleep, will dilute all those hours you spent planning your training and diet, and the actual hours of hard training in the gym.

With today’s hectic lifestyles, commitments such as family, personal finance management, work, and even play, not to mention the associated stresses that come with them, can dominate our lives. It’s no surprise that getting continual regular deep sleep can be a challenge for some of us.

Deep sleep is so important to us, particularly for those with health and fitness goals. Aside from the fact that it’s the phase that will help aid the repair of muscles torn and broken whilst performing intensive training, its also the time when the body is put in what is called a stage of SAID.

Specific Adaption to Imposed Demand is where it all happens, guys and gals. This is where your muscles get stronger and bigger in readiness for the next grueling workout. You may have recognized that there is another part of SAID that occurs when we're wide awake... which is when you're in the gym.

This concept is also proven in other physical instances, when you’re dehydrated you hold water, when you starve yourself your metabolism slows down, these are other perfect examples of SAID.

So what can we do to ensure we're giving the body what it needs so that we can reap the maximum rewards of all our hard hours spent in the gym and the precision timing of our daily eating habits. There are plenty of tips, hints, and behaviors we can adopt to improve our sleeping patterns, and I'm going to touch base upon a few that we as athletes can all relate to.

• Expose yourself to sunlight - besides the vitamin D benefits, this also increases your body’s production of melatonin, which is low during the day. When we expose ourselves to sunlight, or at least artificial light, nocturnal melatonin production occurs sooner thus helping us fall asleep more easily. Besides helping sleep, this also plays an important role in countering infection, inflammation, cancer, and autoimmunity, according to a review in the May 2006 issue of Current Opinion in Investigational Drugs.
• Have a balanced light meal of carbohydrates and protein an hour before sleep - This helps with the production the essential amino acid tryptophan, which helps the body create serotonin (which is linked in with melatonin), and is also a calming hormone.
• Combine sex and sleep - Sex and physical intimacy, such as hugging and massage, can provide relaxation and physical release that leads to a deeper more restful sleep, however if sex does the opposite then try not to have sex before bedtime.
• Limit Caffeine and stimulants late in the day - Caffeine in particular can still affect the central nervous system up to 8 hours after digestion.
• Limit the amount of fluids taken in before sleep - That excess liquid needs to go somewhere! Less frequent trips to the bathroom will be more conducive to our productive sleeping patterns.
• Keep a regular sleeping schedule - Try to go to bed and rise at the same times no matter what the day. This way your body won't feel tired when you need to be alert, and alert when you need to be resting.

As a foot note, in relation to all those with goals more of weight loss and less of building muscle...consider this: The body works so hard to repair and rebuild your ravaged muscles sustained from your grueling workouts that it uses up fat stores to do so whilst sleeping.

Sleep deprivation can inhibit the body’s ability to lose fat even if you eat and exercise right. A 1999 study at the University of Chicago showed that restricting sleep to just four hours per night for one week brought healthy adults to the point that some had the glucose and insulin characteristics of someone who had diabetes.

Research also by a Dr. Van Cauter shows that people who don't get enough sleep are more likely to have bigger appetites due to the fact that leptin levels fall, promoting appetite increase. Leptin regulates said appetite.

So to conclude, aim to get around 8 hours of quality sleep per night. However, (just like in your workouts), its all about quality not quantity. Apply this credo to your sleeping patterns and you may be surprised with the speed of your progress in and out of the gym.