Sleep tight – why is sleep important?
We all know sleep is a necessity, yet for most of us this is an area of our life we often sacrifice for other commitments (work, family, food, nights outs, etc). If you do not sleep enough it may be stopping you getting those hard earns gains from training and eating right.
How much sleep do I need?
Now I would love to tell you exactly how much sleep you need but, as most items in the exercise science world, this varies from person to person. The average person usually requires seven to eight hours of sleep a night to function correctly for an average day. Now if you are looking to change your shape, increase your strength, improve your endurance or achieve any of the multiple training goals then you are looking to do more than function correctly for an average day. To achieve these goals you will be stressing your body through various forms of exercise and probably following a nutrition plan. To recover from this stress and improve, the body undergoes numerous adaptations process and yes most of these occur during sleep. Therefore it is likely that you will benefit from a minimum of seven hours but more could be better.
What happens during sleep?
Sleep can generally be broken down into three stages. When you first drift off you enter light sleep where many bodily process slow down and your heart rate starts to lower. At this stage the body is reducing its function but not undergoing any significant recovery and adaptation. The second stage is deep sleep where your bodily process slow even further but again recovery is minimal. It is after after these two stages that you reach the deepest stage of sleep termed rapid eye movement sleep (REM sleep). It is during REM that bodily processes begin to increase again and with it that much needed recovery and adaptation. Interestingly your will go through numerous cycles of light, deep and REM sleep in one night of sleep that lasts seven to eight hours.
Additional benefits of sleep.
For me, knowing sleep can optimise my recovery and by extension my gains from training is reason enough to make sure I get a decent amount of it. However sleep can do so much more such as:
Reduce inflammation - inflammation has links to health issues such as heart disease and arthritis. Also less inflammation means a more defined body.
Improve skill acquisition – memories of practiced skill are strengthened when you sleep.
Enhance creativity – sleep can reorganise memories that may help give you that light bulb moment.
Increase attention – when you are tired it becomes more difficult to ignore distractions.
Reduce stress – blood pressure is better controlled after a good nights sleep.
Lower the risk of depression – anxiety and irritability is reduced meaning you get more emotional stability.
In conclusion…
If you are training smart and hard, sticking to your diet plan and still not changing shape then making sure you get a minimum of seven hours of sleep may be your solution!