Sleep and Recovery
One of the most overlooked aspects of weight training and training for sport is recovery. Recovery is all about what happens when you are done working out and to get the most out of your hard work. We all know that sleep is important and feels great after a long day or after a really challenging workout, but what is sleeping really doing for you. When you train, workout, compete, or just have a really physically challenging day, your body is breaking down. But that is not a bad thing, it is because of this ‘breaking down’ that then the body can rebuild and get stronger. Exercise breaks muscle down and the natural recovery process is actually how it rebuilds itself to be bigger and stronger for the future.
How does one receive these great benefits of recovery? Rest or sleep, is the most important time for this to occur. Sleep is the natural way the body recovers. It is the time that the body releases hormones that really make the recovery and rebuild happen. During sleep, the body releases growth hormone as well as cortisol at higher levels than any other time. These hormones play critical roles in muscle growth and repair. Essentially, muscle growth and repair is stimulated as these hormones get released and the body works to fight the inflammation caused by the preceding trauma, aka exercise, workout, hike, etc. Without enough sleep, the release of these all-important hormones would not occur at their optimal levels and the benefits of working out would not be the same.
When an individual experiences sleep deprivation, meaning they do not sleep enough, there are negative effects. Sleep deprivation leads to decreases in performance, increased perceived exhaustion (aka tiredness), mood swings, as well as increased stress levels, and decreased levels of glycogen and carbohydrates being stored as energy. Basically, when an athlete is not getting enough sleep, they are not allowing their body to restore levels of energy as well as the impacting how the muscles repair from the previous day’s stresses.
Naturally, the next question is all about how much sleep to get and what does getting proper sleep look like and do. First off, the benefits are amazing. Not only does the athlete feel more refreshed and energized, their muscles are receiving the necessary hormones to get bigger and stronger from the hard work that was done. The exact number of hours each individual needs to get in a night varies depending on the individual, what activities, and the amount of total stress they were under. So, it’s hard to give an exact number. However, if a person aims to get between 8 to 10 hours of sleep on average a night, most studies have demonstrated that this provides the needed and wanted results of sleeping.
There is so much more to sleep than just the number of hours an individual gets. Quality is just as, if not more, important than quantity. So, what makes for a good night’s sleep? It starts with going to bed on a consistent schedule. The human body is all about rhythms and giving it a regular rhythm to sleep and wake up to allows the body to prepare for sleep thus allowing for maximum benefits. Next is the sleeping environment. Best sleep occurs in a cool, dark, and quiet space. Try to make the bedroom as dark and quiet as possible and having a temperature that is slightly cooler than you think you may need. Lastly, I know this is the hardest in this era, but it is to limit the amount of screen time right before bed. If this is just something that cannot be avoided make sure to turn the device to night mode. What this is trying to do, is limit exposure to blue light which stimulates the brain. And we definitely don’t want the brain getting stimulated as we try to get ready for bed. So, turn on night or non-blue light mode to prepare your body for the best sleep possible.
Sleep is all about recovery and recovery is something that you absolutely cannot overlook. Without recovery, all the benefits you are looking for out of training and exercising will not be the same. Recovery is the process of getting the most out of your hard work and sleep is the number one recovery tool. Sleep is the time your body releases critical hormones for muscle rebuilding and growth. It is the time that energy stores are built up, bone building, and fat burning occurs. And quality of sleep through going to bed in a cool, dark, quiet space as well as limiting exposure to devices and their nasty blue light leads to these great benefits. Do NOT forget the importance of sleep and look to not just get a large quantity of sleep but remember that quality is just as important.
-Tyler Grisdale, MS, CSCS, RSCC, CES, TPI