Build More Muscle by Improving Your Sleeping Habits |
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Gaining healthy natural muscle weight takes time, and a
dedicated effort. An effective weight
training routine accompanied by proper nutrition is essential to success. However, one of the most overlooked aspects
of gaining muscle weight is getting adequate sleep.
Adequate sleep is more important than many beginners realize. Without enough sleep, the body will not grow muscle, and you will have difficulty gaining weight! This is why getting plenty of sleep is extremely important if you want to gain muscle, and have ample amounts of energy for your workouts.
Why is Getting Enough Sleep So Important for Building Muscle?After an intense weight training
session your body needs time to repair its self. During a weight training workout, you
actually break down the muscle tissue throughout your body.
This is why allowing your body time to recover from the workout is so important. Your body needs time to repair muscle tissue and grow, and you guessed it, this happens while you sleep! Getting eight hours or more of sleep each night is
ideal. Any less sleep may not allow your
body adequate time to grow and help you gain muscle. That’s eight hours every night, not
four hours on Saturday night and ten hours on Sunday! A consistent sleep schedule is a must.
Quality of Sleep Vs. Quantity of Sleep
To understand why the quality of your sleep is important, let's take a closer look at each stage of sleep. The four stages of sleep are:
Stage 1 – You drift in and out of sleep and can be awakened
easily. The eyes move slowly and muscle
activity. This is the stage when many
people have sudden muscle contractions and experience a falling sensation.
Stage 2 – Eye movement stops and brain waves slow down. Occasionally bursts of rapid brain waves
occur at this stage.
Stage 3 – Brain waves slow down further. The brain produces slow waves called “delta
waves”, and still produces some faster waves.
Stage 4 – The brain almost exclusively produced the slow delta waves. There is no eye movement or muscle activity. This is the deepest stage of sleep, and also the most important.
It is very important that you reach sleep stages three and four every night. During these stages, your body rebuilds its self, and muscle tissue grows. If you do not reach these stages, your body may not be able to repair its self. If you often feel tired and drowsy throughout the day, your body may not be experiencing deep sleep at night. If this is the case, it is important to evaluate your lifestyle to determine what is affecting your sleep. The amount of daily exercise, stress levels, and your diet can all play a role sleep quality. Putting it All TogetherIf you want to build slabs of muscle, not only do you have to sleep as many hours as possible, you also have to work on maximizing the quality of your sleep. The exact number of hours of sleep you need depends on many different factors, and only you can determine what is right for your body. Generally most bodybuilders need at least 8 hours of quality sleep each night. To learn more, check out the Rest & Recovery for Bodybuilders article.
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