Learn how you can build more muscle & burn more fat by improving your sleep.
Key Questions
What is sleep and why is it important?
What’s the research on the effects of sleep on muscle building and fat burning?
What’s the difference between sleep quality and sleep quantity?
How can I optimize my sleep?
The Importance of Sleep
“Sleep is an essential part of how efficiently we operate our bodies and tap into the power that we have in our minds.”
Sleep is a mystery that has been unfolding since our existence. Humans do it, animals do it, and even our electronics do it now (sleep mode).
Sleep is defined as: a naturally recurring state of mind and body, characterized by altered consciousness, relatively inhibited sensory activity, reduced muscle activity and inhibition of nearly all voluntary muscles during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, and reduced interactions with surroundings.
Society has programmed us to believe that success is driven by work ethic and sleep is a distraction from us accomplishing that. The logic behind this is that if you spend more time sleeping, then you will have less time to work harder and make more progess.
Yes, time is finite and where we invest our time will ultimately dictate how close or far we get from our goals, but this logic is not completely true. We don’t exactly know why we were designed to sleep, but we do know a lot of the effects that sleep has on our minds and bodies. Yes, you can do more work by sleeping less, but the quality and effectiveness of that work will be compromised. Sleep is an essential part of how efficiently we operate our bodies and tap into the power that we have in our minds.
The Research
“If we want to operate at maximum efficiency, then we must give our bodies what it needs which is adequate sleep quantity and quality.”
There are millions of people that are chronically sleep deprived and are suffering from the adverse effects from lack of sleep. Despite their hard work pushing their bodies in hopes to gain muscle or lose fat, the return on investment of their time and effort may be for nothing due to sleep deprivation.
Studies have also shown that sleep quantity has a direct impact on hormonal function and physical performance.
Sleep plays a much more important role than we think. The innerworkings of our mind and body rely on sleep to function optimally. Sleep deprivation is reducing the efficiency of these functions which causes our bodies survival mechanisms to trigger. If we want to operate at maximum efficiency, then we must give our bodies what it needs which is adequate sleep quantity and quality.
Quality vs. Quantity
“If sleep quality is dictated by how many sleep cycles we go through, then sleep quantity has a direct effect on sleep quality potential.”
Sleeping for the ample amount of time is the first step to regaining control of your mental and physical results. What is even more important is the quality of the sleep that you’re getting.
You could be getting the suggested 8 hours of sleep (actually 7.5 or 9 which is explained later), but your sleep quality might be only 5 or 6 hours. If you’re only getting 6 hours or even less, then imagine how much quality sleep you may be getting.
Sleep quality is controlled by how many sleep cycles that we go through every night. A sleep cycle is a predictable pattern of activity where we cycle through NREM (Non Rapid Eye Movement) and REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. Each sleep cycle consists of 4 stages:
Stage 1: The beginning stage where our brains produce slow brain waves called theta waves while transitioning from being awake to falling alseep.
Stage 2: Another light stage where your brain produces rhythmic brain frequencies called brain spindles while your body temperature decreases and heart rate slows.
Stage 3: This is where deep sleep begins where you brain produces delta waves which relaxes muscles, reduces blood pressure, and is less succeptible to sounds or movements. This is also the stage where your body repairs muscle tissure, stimulates growth, boosts immune function, and build energy.
Stage 4: REM Sleep is the dream state where brain activity is active causing rapid eye movement, increased respiration rate, but completely relaxed muscles.
After going throuhg all 4 stages, your body continuously repeats the cycle starting from Stage 2. Each sleep cycle lasts 90 minutes. Like the study mentioned earlier, the group that was getting 5.5 hours/night of sleep were only getting 3 full sleep cycles, while the group that was getting 8.5 hours/night were getting 5 full sleep cycles. If sleep quality is dictated by how many sleep cycles we go through, then sleep quantity has a direct effect on sleep quality potential. The longer you sleep, the higher the chances of you completing more sleep cycles, which means higher quality sleep.
Improve Sleep Quality
“If you want to learn more effective stategies to optimize your sleep quality, then consider grabbing the book Sleep Smarter by Shawn Stevenson.”
If sleep quality is controlled by sleep cycles, then we must sleep for the minimum amount of time to get a full cycle of sleep. It’s recommended to get 5 to 6 full sleep cycles which means either 7.5 or 9 hours of sleep/night.
Your sleeping environment can have a substantial impact on how well you can fall and stay asleep. It’s recommended to replace your mattress every 7 years because the materials can deteriorate and cause discomfort. Light can disturb our sleep cycles due to receptors on our skin, so make sure you sleep with no light in the room. Temperature can also influence how we regulate our body temperature during sleep, so sleep in a cool environment that’s between 60-68 degrees fahrenheit.
Our phones and electronics are tools that are detrimental to our sleep quality. Using your phone in your bed can signal to your brain that the environment that you’re in is one that you should stay awake in, so remove your phone while in your bed and only use your bed for sleep not casual scrolling. Screen time before bed can also have an effect on sleep quality because of the receptors in our eyes that are sensitive to the blue light omitting from your devices. Don’t use any devices an hour before bed and use blue light omitting glasses if you expose yourself to blue light for long durations.
If you want to learn more effective stategies to optimize your sleep quality, then consider grabbing the book Sleep Smarter by Shawn Stevenson.
Maximize Muscle Building
“Walt Workout Programs utilize a custom designed training and nutrition strategy to teach you all the knowledge and tools required to maximize your results, overcome plateaus, achieve your fitness goals, and maintain your progress for a lifetime.”
Once you’re getting an adequate amount of quality sleep, then you’re in the best position to begin gaining muscle. How exactly do you maximize muscle building once sleep is in check? By making sure you’re in a Calorie Surplus and by performing the best workouts for you to implement Progressive Overload.
A Calorie Surplus is when you are consuming more calories, than you are burning, or you are giving your body more than enough energy than it needs to recover. Progressive Overload is continuously challenging your body beyond it's current limitations with a stimulus that's more demanding than it's capable of handling.
Walt Workout Programs utilize a custom designed training and nutrition strategy to teach you all the knowledge and tools required to maximize your results, overcome plateaus, achieve your fitness goals, and maintain your progress for a lifetime. If you want the best training manual that will guide you in maximizing muscle building, then purchase the LEVEL I Muscle Building Program.
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