Muscle Evolved

Is Sleep Important For Muscle Growth?

By Keenan Walsh · · Updated

Contents

Sleep is something that most of us enjoy doing. It is something that we need for our bodies to function properly. Sometimes with a busy work or school schedule, we may not get as much sleep because of the many tasks that these things add to our day.

If one wanted to get a good workout in along with their busy schedule the first thought might be to cut your sleep schedule. Will this lack of sleep affect our muscle growth? Is not getting enough sleep killing your gains? In this article, I will be answering these questions.

How Muscles Grow

When working out you contract your muscles, which creates small amounts of damage in your muscle fibers. Inside those fibers are protein filaments called actin and myosin. “Muscle growth (or “skeletal muscle hypertrophy,” as it’s called at science parties) is the result of a complex process that adds more myosin “filaments” to each muscle fiber. This makes the “engine” of the cell bigger and stronger over time.” read more here.

Muscles can become sore after lifting weights. When you rest, your body repairs the fibers, and with consistent training they gradually become bigger and stronger. Rest is very important for the muscles to heal and grow properly.

The average time someone should rest a muscle group after working it out is around 24-48 hours read more here. During rest, you should not work out those muscles to avoid injury. Then when that 24-48 hour rest period is over, work them out again.

Do You Need Sleep To Help Your Muscles Grow?

Now we have established that in order for muscles to grow you need to rest those muscle groups. Does this rest include sleep? Or does sleep help with that healing? Yes. Sleep is when much of your recovery happens. In one study, a single night without sleep cut muscle protein synthesis by 18%, raised cortisol by 21%, and lowered testosterone by 24% in healthy young adults.

Sleep also affects performance. Stanford researchers tracked 11 college basketball players on their normal sleep schedule for 2-4 weeks, recording sprint times and shooting accuracy. Then the players extended their sleep for 5-7 weeks, aiming for at least ten hours in bed each night.

By the end of the experiment, the athletes ran faster sprints and improved their free throw and 3-point shooting by about 9% during the sleep extension period read more here. The study measured performance, not muscle size, but it shows how much sleep affects what you can do in training.

But muscles are not the only thing that your sleep can affect. Getting enough sleep helps you get sick less often, manage stress, and protect your heart and metabolism. The CDC recommends 7 or more hours a night for adults and 8-10 hours for teens.

Conclusion

Neatly made bed with fresh pillows

Photo by Kurt Kaiser, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Sleep is something that everyone does and needs. But is cutting out a few hours of sleep bad when lifting weights? Cutting out sleep is definitely a bad idea. Sleep helps the muscles recover properly and also helps other parts of our bodies function properly.

Sleep is very important for healthy hormone levels and a strong immune system. Getting enough of it supports your muscle growth, and you will have more energy to train hard when you are well rested.

Sources

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