Just had someone ask me about why you should slep for 8 hours... :) According to recent studies, those sunday sleep ins may be more beneficial to your body than you think! Not only does a good night’s sleep assist with cognitive functioning, energy renewal, brain cell restoration, skin cell production, body temperature regulation, assisting in enhancing the immune and digestive system, but it ALSO helps to build and repair muscles. During sleep, growth hormones are produced, and protein synthesis occurs aiding in repairing and building muscle. Hence why it is important to ensure you dinner consists of partly protein. Want to know how and why sleep can help with building lean muscle and can assist with making you feel and look a whole lot better? Keep reading! Muscle recovery and development Growth hormone (GH) is a hormone which is made in the pituitary gland (located at the base of the brain). GH is an essential hormone released with the body as it assists with muscle recovery. It is actually the hormone most responsible for muscle-building. Growth hormone helps to increase glucose uptake in muscle, this means that it able to provide a more efficient process of protein synthesis in the liver and muscles. Thus, assisting with strengthening muscles as it aids in breaking down fat, and ensuring muscles recover properly. GH is released primarily during sleep and reaches it peak during your deep sleep cycle. Ensuring you get at least 8 hours of sleep a night is a guaranteed way of increasing GH secretion levels. In other words, this hormone promotes the growth, maintenance and repair of muscles and bones through the facilitation of protein. The amino acids assist with ensuring that the tissues are repaired, and this is done faster during sleep than at any waking hour. So, if you continue to reduce your sleep, GH secretion will reduce and will lead to a slower rate of lean muscle-building, as well increasing the likelihood of injuring yourself! KY Xo
Posted on: Mon, 09 Sep 2013 07:29:34 +0000
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