Grow Muscle Faster By Getting Proper Sleep

By: Sean Nalewanyj Click author's name for more of his/her articles

It seems simple, but many people overlook the fact that your body needs to rest if you want to grow muscle faster.

How does sleeping properly help you grow muscle faster? Well, let's check out how your body reacts when it doesn't get enough sleep...

1) Your mental focus decreases.

Studies have shown that just a single night with insufficient rest will have a significant negative impact on your mental focus and willingness to perform difficult tasks.

2) Your physical performance will be low.

If you are not adequately rested, your strength levels go down, and you are less likely to grow muscle faster because you will not be able to maximize your reps or weights.

You will only grow muscle faster if you focus on steadily increasing the poundage you lift in all of your exercises, and this can only be done when you have the strength to do it.

3) Muscle recovery is affected.

The fact is, and I'm sure you know this, your muscles do not grow IN the gym. Your muscle size increases while you are OUT of the gym, sleeping, resting, and eating.

While you sleep, your body is working hard towards the recovery and remodeling of damaged muscle tissue. Plus, your central nervous system, joints, and immune system are getting rested as well.

4) The production of certain hormones is compromised.

You limit the production of some of the most important muscle building and fat burning hormones that circulate inside your body if you do not get ample sleep.

This includes important hormones such as cortisol, testosterone, growth hormone, and insulin.

To put it simply, when you don't sleep, each and every one of these important hormones is affected...

a) Cortisol: A major catabolic stress hormone, this bad boy works hard to increase abdominal fat storage and break down muscle tissue for energy.

Studies have shown that insufficient sleep will cause the body to release higher amounts of this hormone.

b) Testosterone: The most important muscle building hormone. The higher your levels of testosterone, the more muscle you can build.

Your testosterone levels fall when you are sleep deprived.

c) Growth Hormone: Plays a major role in regenerating the body and building and maintaining muscle.

When you're asleep, your body maximizes its growth hormone levels. If you fail to get proper rest at night, this hormonal surge will be compromised.

d) Insulin: Without enough insulin, your body does not maximize its uptake of important nutrients into your body cells.

If you don't get enough sleep, your body's insulin resistance levels are increased. This means that your body will have to release higher-than-normal amounts of this hormone to compensate.

This can lead to excess fat storage, diabetes, or heart disease.

Which brings me to the question: how much sleep is sufficient to grow muscle faster?

As with most things, it's certainly an individual factor and varies from person to person. Giving your body at least 8 hours of sleep every night is a good way to go.

Don't scrimp on sleep when building muscle; if you need 9 hours or more, go for it. Your goal is to get enough sleep to be at 100% performance levels in the day.

Sleeping will help you to grow muscle faster and become stronger because it will:

- Increase energy levels and mental focus
- Help you get stronger
- Help you to recover properly in between workouts
- Decrease cortisol levels
- Up your testosterone levels
- Enhance levels of growth hormone
- Decrease insulin resistance

If all this information doesn't encourage you to get more sleep, I can't imagine what will.

Sweet dreams!

Article Source: ABC Article Directory

About The Author: Grab Your Bonus Gift: Uncover the dead-honest facts to build muscle fast with Sean Nalewanyj's famous 8-part www.musclegaintruth.com">bodybuilding routine course.