We know the nutritional benefits such as BCAAs that help promote muscle growth, but how does sleep play a role?

If you love hitting the weights and pushing your body to see just how much it can lift, you probably also love the benefits of weightlifting — gaining muscle. As a fitness enthusiast, we look to just about anything and everything that can improve our workouts — from pre-, intra-, and post-workout supplements and a new diet, to tweaking the method of your lifting. There is no shortage of things to try, but one of the most vital components of gaining muscle may be tied to your pillow — what most people often skip over is sleep.

At Oh!Mino, we’ve created optimized amino acids to not only boost your performance and when combined with sleep, it makes for the ideal pair for muscle gains in the gym. Join us in today’s post as we examine the role of sleep in muscle gains and muscle recovery.

Why Our Bodies Need Sleep

Not only does our brain require sleep to sort through and process the events of the day, but our bodies also need sleep to maintain a wide variety of functions from our immune response to recovery and repair.

Sleep and How it Pertains to Our Gains

When we get adequate sleep — the amount is different for everybody, but typically eight hours is ideal —  our bodies go into almost a fasting state that allows for catabolic processes to break down compounds and release energy that spawns muscle growth and recovery.

It has been shown that eating just before bed helps to slow the catabolic process and increase how our muscles are able to use protein. Human growth hormone is also released while we sleep which aids in muscle regeneration and recovery — in short, sleep is where your muscles get the chance to recover and thrive — the combination for optimal progress in your fitness.

Giving our brain rest is also something that sleep helps us do, and when our brain is well rested, it only sets us up for success in the gym. Our mental alertness and clarity are better, and we’re able to push a little harder and dig a little deeper without feeling mentally exhausted.

About The Sleep Cycle

Many are aware of the sleep/wake cycle, but we don’t really know it. Here’s why it’s important:

Being aware of the sleep stages help prime your performance in the gym and when you follow a set sleep pattern, your muscles are able to better recover.

A body that lacks consistent patterns (night after night of good sleep) misses out on stages three and four where it is thought our body is at optimal rest and able to consolidate memories best.

You probably get it — sleep is vital! So go get some good sleep and stay tuned for part two!

To learn more about our optimized amino acids and how to achieve the best workout out day in and day out, connect with us today!