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7 Ways Sleep Can Affect Bodybuilding

[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][image_with_animation image_url=”4952″ alignment=”center” animation=”Fade In” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][divider line_type=”No Line” custom_height=”10″][vc_column_text]Packing on muscle is a process that demands consistency and attention-to-detail. Any bodybuilder should know that making those muscles pop is more than just putting in the hours at the gym. After you pump iron, consider achieving optimum sleep on a nightly basis because a lack of it does more damage than you might think.

Sleep Loss Affects Performance

Your body is a machine that functions smoothly when the circumstances are ideal. When you are lacking sleep, you won’t be able to exert maximum effort during your workouts because your body will be unfit for the task at hand. A post from Building Muscle Guide notes that without proper sleep, you become weaker and less efficient during your training. Sure, you can train, but it’s a watered down version of what it ought to be. A common scenario among sleep-deprived athletes is opting for lighter resistance or even cutting down on the number of repetitions and sets for the workout. Moreover, you don’t push your physical threshold and instead allow yourself to plateau.

Sleep Loss Compromises Your Body’s Muscle Building Hormones

Integral hormones that contribute to muscle building are directly affected when you run low on sleep. The same post from Building Muscle Guide explains that one of them is cortisol, which aids in fat storage and muscle tissue breakdown for the purposes of energy use. When this stress hormone increases, getting ripped becomes more of a challenge for your system. Another important chemical is the growth hormone, which plays a key role in repairing muscle tissue and preserving muscle mass. Sleep loss results in low growth hormone production leading to weaker and smaller muscles.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner column_margin=”default” text_align=”left”][vc_column_inner column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/2″ column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]Sleep Loss Jogs Your Memory

Many of us are familiar with that level of fatigue where association and recall become difficult. Apart from losing your mental edge, Leesa emphasizes that being sleep deprived hinders your memory from retaining information. In the study featured in the article, subjects were asked to remember as many words as possible on a list. Those who were sleep deprived performed 40 percent worse at recalling them. The very same principle applies to your workouts. Building muscle requires a lot of learning, from adopting new workouts and techniques to adjusting to nutrition plans. When you find yourself tired most of the time due to inadequate sleep, you’ll face the uphill battle of establishing muscle memory and managing the steep learning curve that comes with these changes. Without good sleep you may find yourself constantly falling back to easier exercises.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/2″ column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][image_with_animation image_url=”4953″ alignment=”center” animation=”Fade In” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner column_margin=”default” text_align=”left”][vc_column_inner column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/2″ column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][image_with_animation image_url=”4954″ alignment=”center” animation=”Fade In” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][divider line_type=”No Line” custom_height=”10″][vc_column_text]Sleep Loss May Take Away Your Drive to Stay Fit

When you run low on sleep, you may not be thinking clearly as your cognitive edge is diminished. Sleepiness becomes a real problem for body builders who have strict fitness schedule to keep. Carrying this groggy state into the gym may not only bring you closer to injury, but may even be the cause for skipping training days entirely. Putting yourself in situations that remove you from your routine are certainly not ideal for individuals whose success rely on maintaining a regimen.

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Sleep Loss Wreaks Havoc on Your Mood

Feelings of positivity and optimism are found less in individuals who sleep less. Bodybuilding takes a toll on you mentally as well as physically, so it is important to be able to function with a positive outlook at all times. In order to be in the best physical shape, every part of your life needs to be positively focused on achieving your goals.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/2″ column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]Sleep Loss Messes Affects Your Metabolism

A study from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition explains that sleeping less may result in the weight gain of a pound just inside of two weeks. While it may not seem like much, the excess pounds may pile up if you don’t make the necessary adjustments right away. Moreover, the study also found that those who were sleeping less were actually eating more – a 300-calorie increase in their daily nutrition. Bodybuilders must value sleep as it contributes to achieving the best physique possible. The more you sleep, the less chances you have of ruining your diet.

Sleep Loss Can Make You Sick

Health Guidance underscores that insufficient sleep threatens your body’s condition by weakening your immune system and even raising the chances of other health issues that include diabetes, heart attack, and even depression. All of these are factors that may rob you from your time at the gym. As nurturing your muscles requires following a strict workout schedule, having a compromised immune system due to lack of sleep makes achieving this harder to realize.[/vc_column_text][image_with_animation image_url=”4955″ alignment=”center” animation=”Fade In” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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