Sunday, July 13, 2008

Muscle Growth While You Sleep

By Lena Hellsten

Working out at the gym is of course the basis to build from if your intention is to gain a muscular body. However there are other aspects that are essential if you are to grow with ease, and if you feel like you're doing most of it right, there might be an often overlooked aspect that your missing out on.

Sleep.

By giving your body a full nights sleep you give it the base it needs to be able to build stronger muscles. Examine your sleeping patterns; do you have a deep sleep or one that is light with interruptions? Is it easy for you to fall asleep or do you toss and turn for hours? Do you feel rested when you wake up or do you take hours to get going?

Most of the bodily growth is happening while we are sleeping and this includes muscle growth. Look at the kids; you might sometimes think they grew an inch while sleeping and this is not so far from the truth. They sleep a lot more than adults and it is during these valuable hours that their bodies grow the most.

40 minutes into your sleep the body starts to raise the number of growth hormones in the body, including testosterone which is the main hormone for muscle growth. The energy that's been provided to the body is then being used to renew the cells and to increase the number to give it the ability to handle the new activity level it's been facing during the day.

Without a proper deep sleep this process will fall behind since the body will be set on work-mode all the time, not being able to switch to the relax-mode where this all happens naturally.

If you find it hard to fall asleep, don't worry about it. Those worrysome thoughts doesn't do you any good anyway and there are so many ways that can help you to get a good nights sleep. Let the evenings be the time of relaxing and calmness that they are so well suited to be. Have some tea such as peppermint or chamomile, or a cup of warm milk. This can helps you to unwind and let go of the day.

More ways to relax can be to listen to some calm music, reading a good book or spending some time with a pet. There are also a lot of relaxing exercises, such as hypnosis, on the market that can be helpful to bring you into sleep. Find what works for you.

When you have a meal an hour or so before going to bed with a high amount of protein, you give your body the nutrition it needs to build muscles while resting. Make sure you don't eat just before going to bed since this might decrease the quality of your sleep. Let your body digest the food properly and then you can rest and let it do its work.

Sleeping medicine can surely make you fall asleep easier, but it lessens the quality of the sleep and shouldn't be taken over a long period of time since they might cause your body to get dependent on them.

Just find the ways that work for you to relax deeply and your body will naturally be able to go into the sleeping state. Give your body the opportunity to do the work that it knows so well how to do. All you need is a good rest and the results come naturally.

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