So how does sleep relate to the phe­nom­e­non of build­ing big mus­cles? The num­ber one rea­son get­ting enough sleep is so impor­tant is because Growth Hor­mone lev­els rise 30–45 min­utes after falling asleep, and a higher qual­ity of sleep releases Testos­terone. If you are more than a recre­ational weight lifter whose trips to the gym include more moti­va­tion than to pick up the cute recep­tion­ist, I would sug­gest the opti­mal 8 hours. How­ever, this is a very indi­vid­u­al­is­tic mea­sure and as low as 6 hours can be ade­quate for some.

Also, it is rumored that every hour of sleep you get before mid­night has the equiv­a­lent affect of 2 hours sleep. So if you go to bed at 10 pm and wake up 6 am, you will feel as if you have just slept 10 hours (not the actual 8 hours). I have to admit that I have expe­ri­enced higher qual­ity sleep going to bed earlier.

Take advan­tage of power naps – they are not for wimps. Pro­fes­sional body­builders take them reg­u­larly in the course of a day so there is some­thing to be said for them. 20-minute naps in the mid­dle of the day are said to be the equiv­a­lent of a 2-hour sleep. Again, try it out and see for your­self. Naps are extremely ben­e­fi­cial if you did not sleep the night before. Remem­ber, your mus­cles grow when you rest – this is the time between weight-training ses­sions. Sleep is the best oppor­tu­nity to let your mus­cles rest. Sleep is a pow­er­ful tool that costs you nothing!

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