Various studies suggest that sleep is an important activity in human life. It improves memory, metabolism, and the immune system. However, you might wonder whether there are any benefits of sleep for exercise recovery. If that’s what you are thinking, then you are at the right place. In this post, you will find some benefits of sleep for exercise recovery.
Sleep is an effective way to recover that we received as a gift from nature. Other forms of recovery are not even close to the benefits that sleep offers. If you don’t get enough sleep, your body won’t heal and your body organs will fail to function.
Sleep helps the body repair from damage done by the tasks you performed during the day. When you sleep, your body secretly releases hormones to repair tissues. Testosterone and human growth hormone are two major hormones that aid in body growth.
A study suggests that people who receive five hours of sleep every night experience a 10% to 15% drop in their testosterone levels in a week. Low testosterone production leads to fatigue, loss of muscular strength, and low sex drive. That’s why it is important to get enough sleep.
Benefits of Sleep for Exercise Recovery
Sleep is critical after exercise and diet. According to the National Sleep Foundation, adults should sleep between 7 to 9 hours day. Here are some benefits of sleep you should know if you workout:
1. Stay Fresh for the Next Day Workout Session
While planning your workout session, you should consider the amount of sleep you get every day. You should include extensive exercises the day you get more sleep. You require more time to heal on the day you lift heavyweights. Sleep recovers your body so you can wake up fresh the other day and head to the gym for the best results.
2. Build Muscles
The most notable benefit of sleep is that it repairs and builds muscles. While working out, you stretch your muscles, which cause wear and tear. The recovery process boosts when you take a nap. Without proper sleep, you will feel pain and other health problems. The longer the sleep, the more time your muscles will get to grow and regenerate.
3. Repair Muscle Tissues
When you get a full night’s sleep, your body releases anabolic hormones. These hormones repair damaged tissues caused by repetitive muscle movement. However, insufficient sleep releases catabolic hormones that produce energy to keep you active. You might have noticed that when you are awake for a long period there comes a time when you no longer feel sleepy, but feel exhausted.
This happens because of elevated sympathetic nervous system activity. The activity releases high levels of cortisol hormone. This hormone converts fatty acid into energy to keep you active regardless of insufficient sleep. When the supply of glycogen is low, cortisol will convert amino acids into adenosine triphosphate. When this happens, the process of muscle growth slows down.
4. Improves Cognitive Performance
When you are overly tired, you lose the ability to perform cognitive activities. This results in poor judgment and reduced reflex times. As a result, you develop training injuries. One of the significant benefits of sleep is that it removes metabolic waste from brain cells. Also, it enhances your blood flow to cells and brings oxygen into your body. Furthermore, you develop glycogen, which improves your cognitive performance. Here are some exercises to boost your mental health.
5. Reduce Metabolic Overload
When you exercise to the point of fatigue, you develop metabolic overload. This results in a low amount of glycogen in the body. When glycogen reduces, your body will fail to generate sufficient energy that your body requires for proper functioning.
When you sleep, the body breaks carbohydrates from the food and metabolizes them into glycogen. Your body stores excessive glycogen in muscles’ cells, which helps with muscle contractions. One gram of glycogen can hold up to three to four grams of water. The muscle size increases when the glycogen is replaced. So, when you sleep after a workout session, your metabolic overload reduces, which results in muscle growth.
6. Improves Immune System
You can improve your immune system by getting enough sleep. Many people get sick when they start exercising. This happens because their immune system doesn’t support the change in their lifestyle. This increases the risk of getting sick. So, if you want to stay healthy, you should improve your immune system. An improved immune system eliminates harmful substances, cells, and germs from the body. By getting 7 to 9 hours of sleep, you will become more productive and will be able to optimize your performance.
7. Promote Optimal Performance
The best way to promote optimal performance is by balancing workout sessions and sleep. For that, you need to plan your exercise according to the amount of sleep you get each night. For instance, if you have to attend a concert or hang out with your friends late at night, you won’t be able to get abundant sleep. This doesn’t mean that you should skip your exercise the other day. Instead, you should move to low-intensity workouts.
That said you should include high-intensity exercise in your daily routine on days when you get sufficient sleep. When you perform high-intensity workouts on the day you receive less sleep, your entire week will be affected.
Conclusion
Now, as you are aware of the benefits of sleep, you can recover from extensive workout sessions. If you fail to get sufficient sleep, you won’t be able to perform your daily exercise and other activities. There is a misconception among people that five hours of sleep is enough to improve your health. But, various studies suggest that you should get at least 7 to 9 hours of sleep. You have to keep your exercise and sleep schedule balanced to live a healthy lifestyle.