8 reasons why sleep is important for working out

Introduction 

We all have heard the boring lectures from our mentors as to why sleep is important. And yet still whenever it’s past 12, you aimlessly start scrolling down the phone, watching movies, or staying up doing office work. But have you ever wondered why you feel often drained out after workouts?

It’s because your sleep schedule is messed up

There are technical reasons why sleep is extremely beneficial for people who work out. And it’s not just sleep- it has a lot to do with quality, time and other aspects. It really does play a vital role. Hormone regulation, immune system function, memory consolidation and weight management are regulated by sleep. Not only does it cause some physical spectrum improvement, but it also improves your mental state too. It boosts your mood, energy levels and ability to focus and perform activities.

Lack of sleep or poor sleep quality can really ruin a lot of things starting from disruption of hormonal secretions to a decrease in appetite and low mood. There is a huge list of negative impacts that follow when sleep isn’t proper.

And in order to feel less drained out or less energized during your workouts, you will have to take the sleep schedule seriously. And unless one knows about how important it is, one wouldn’t really give it importance or put it on their list of priorities. 

Now let’s look into the fact of how proper sleep can actually help with your workouts.

Why adequate sleep is important for working out?

Lack of sleep or even poor quality sleep can lead to a lot of negative impacts on your health, especially when you are working out. Here’s why good and timely sleep is necessary when you work out:

Muscle recovery and repair 

Micro-tears are caused in your muscle fibres when you work out. Though these are completely normal to happen because without them, muscles won’t be built but the body needs to repair these torn fibres in order to make the muscles stronger and more resilient. Let’s dive into details about how that happens. 

While you are sleeping, your body releases growth hormones which are essential for repairing and rebuilding muscle tissue that’s damaged during exercise. With proper sleep, the hormones work their way to repair these torn muscles. 

Lack of enough sleep can actually lead to muscle fatigue, weakness, and injury since your body wouldn’t have enough time to repair the micro-tears in an accurate way. 

Other than this, proper sleep is essential for working out because it allows your body to rest and restore itself. While sleeping, your body enters a state of rest and allows the anatomy to conserve energy and focus on repairing and restoring itself. This is essential for muscle recovery and growth because it allows the body to focus on repairing the damage caused by exercise.

Energy and endurance

Your body runs out of energy while working out. That’s why you feel drained after that. And the restoration of this energy is necessary for further workouts. And one of the easiest ways to get back the lost energy is to take proper rest and sleep according to your age. 

During workouts, your body’s energy stores like glycogen are used up. And if you were not aware, glycogen is the primary source of energy for muscle contractions. During sleep, your body uses the time to replenish the glycogen and ATP stores that is necessary for optimal workout performance. 

If we are to talk about restoring endurance, sleep is the best solution to it. Lack of sleep can cause fatigue and reduce endurance levels, making it more challenging to complete a workout or maintain peak performance during exercise. Adequate sleep ensures that the body is rested and ready to take on physical activity, improving endurance levels and helping you perform better during your workouts.

On top of that, deprivation of sleep can increase the production of stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, which can lead to feelings of fatigue and exhaustion. These hormones can also increase muscle breakdown, making it harder for the body to recover after a workout. Adequate sleep helps keep cortisol levels in check, reducing muscle breakdown and improving muscle recovery, which is essential for maintaining energy and endurance during workouts.

Regulation of hormonal balances

The regulation of hormones is one of the most significant functions of sleep. It plays an important role in muscle growth and recovery after exercise. Quite a few hormones which include testosterone, growth hormone and cortisol are also involved in this process. Sleep also plays a very critical role in this hormone regulation since it actually affects the body’s ability to build and repair master tissues which are often victims of wear and tear during a workout.

Let’s see details of what actually happens to your body when you sleep. The body actually produces a search for growth hormone which is essential for muscle growth and repair. This particular hormone actually helps you to repair and regenerate, at the same time, muscle tissues that have already been damaged by the workout. 

If you actually face a lack of sleep, it can lead to a decrease in growth hormone and also test tester and levels. This connection affects your muscle growth and recovery sleep that provision can also lead to increased levels of cortisol which is the stress hormone that will breakdown muscle tissues and impair muscle growth

Mental clarity and focus

Mental clarity and concentration are one of the most important things when it comes to any sort of discipline be it workout or strength training or any other thing. any form of exercise is it physical, emotional or mental has to have mental clarity and focus as its prime requirements.

And a way of achieving mental clarity and focus during your exercise is by getting effective sleep and by effective we mean that the quality of the sleep also has to be good along with the number of hours of sleep. 

good sleep and actually regulate your mood and emotions in a positive manner and that will affect your workout. When you have a lack of sleep you can face negative impacts like irritability, mood swings and decreased motivation during workouts and all of these things make it very hard to stay focused and achieve your fitness goals. 

In addition to all this, deprivation of sleep can also impair your cognitive function which includes attention, reaction time and decision-making skills if you notice carefully, these are all the important elements which are needed to have successful workout sessions. Deprivation of sleep can result in decreased performance and increased risk of injury.

Workout is about focus and attention and bringing your mind and body together. It’s a discipline that needs to be practised. There can be a lot of tissue damage, inflammation and oxidative stress that occurs during workouts. In order to revive from them, 7-8 hours of sleep is a must.  

In order to stay away from impaired cognitive function and all sorts of accidents that happen during workouts, take good rest. 

A small note: avoid overtraining because it can prevent injuries that usually don’t happen when you follow a schedule. 

Proper functioning of the immune system 

Did you know that the condition of your immune system is secretly linked to your sleep schedule and quality? Well, if you didn’t, that’s okay.

Exercise is known to stimulate the immune system, and regular physical activity is associated with a reduced risk of illness and infection. Proper sleep plays a very significant role when it comes to supporting the immune system. Inadequate sleep can lead to impairment of immune function, exposing your body to illnesses and infections. 

Your immune system produces cytokines, which are proteins that help to fight infection, inflammation, and stress during your sleep.  These cytokines are important for supporting immune function and maintaining overall health. Inadequate sleep can lead to a decrease in cytokine production, impairing the immune system’s ability to fight infection and disease. Additionally, sleep deprivation can lead to an increase in inflammation, which can contribute to a range of health problems, including autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.

Even, practising good sleep hygiene, such as establishing a consistent sleep schedule and creating a relaxing bedtime routine, can help promote better sleep and support immune function for working out.

Weight control and appetite 

If you are wondering if sleep is closely linked to weight control and appetite, yes it is. Your sleep schedule actually determines your mood for having food and weight at the same time.

The two most important hormones that regulate appetite: ghrelin and leptin are affected by sleep deprivation. Ghrelin is a hormone that stimulates appetite, and levels of this hormone increase when you are sleep-deprived. Leptin is a hormone that suppresses appetite, and levels of this hormone decrease when you are sleep-deprived. Therefore, sleep deprivation can lead to increased appetite and decreased feelings of fullness, making it harder to control food intake and maintain a healthy weight.

When your body lacks sleep, your system’s ability to process are store carbohydrates are directly affected. And that’s how it leads to insulin resistance and weight gain. Sleep deprivation can also lead to an increase in cortisol, a stress hormone that can contribute to weight gain and obesity. And all these factors directly affect your workouts. 

Cardiovascular health 

Cardiovascular exercises are considered one of the most essential ones in a workout. During the time you sleep, the body actually replaces and regenerates the tissues including the ones in your cardiovascular system. Sleep is also directly linked to regulating blood pressure and heart rate and on that note, inadequate sleep can actually lead to the destruction of these processes which will eventually lead to increased stress on the cardiovascular system.

If you keep on neglecting your sleep schedule and cut it down it can lead to chronic lips sleep deprivation. Chronic sleep deprivation is actually associated with an increased risk of hypertension or high blood pressure. Both of these are major rest factors for cardiovascular problems like heart disease and stroke. Lack of sleep can lead to inflammation which again is linked with cardiovascular problems like atherosclerosis, or the buildup of plaque in the arteries.

Enhancement of performance 

When it comes to the enhancement of performance, sleep is one of the factors that play a major role in it. There are a lot of things that go beyond gaining energy for your performance enhancement and one of them is the mental aspect. 

Proper sleep lets your body repair and regenerate tissues and all those muscles and nervous systems. That is why it is important for consolidating memories and improving cognitive function. decision making, reaction time, cognitive function and attention span are all important for athletic performance and proper sleep is essential for keeping them balanced. 

Your performance will be enhanced when you have less fatigue and a very good cognitive function and for all of this, the only thing you need is a good quality sleep of 7 to 8 hours every day.

Conclusion 

A point to remember is that the sleep schedule should not be messed with the quality of sleep. What we mean is, the number of hours you sleep and the quality of your sleep isn’t the same. Quality is judged by parameters like disturbance, dreams/nightmares, light/deep sleep or waking up in between. A good sleep is one where you wake up feeling fresh and energized, not one with headaches and pain all over your body. Learning to differentiate between the two is very necessary. Additionally, practicing good sleep hygiene, such as establishing a consistent sleep schedule and creating a relaxing bedtime routine, can help promote better sleep and support cardiovascular health for working out.

We hope that this blog has served you with sleep knowledge. May your sleep angels bless you!