Sleep - the powerful anabolic agent. How to properly take care of sleep hygiene? Maximize your natural growth potential.

Achieving athletic progress and muscle growth requires focusing on three primary factors. Neglecting any one of them can significantly hinder progress and, in some cases, make it nearly impossible, ultimately negating all the effort you've put into your training by overemphasizing catabolic processes.

1. "stimulus" - high-intensity physical activity (necessary to trigger the body's adaptive processes such as muscle growth)
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2. "nutrition" - to promote muscle growth, it is critical to consume the amount of macronutrients that exceed the total metabolic rate, monitor the quality and quantity of protein intake, and ensure that all essential micronutrients are covered in the diet
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3. "regeneration" - post-workout recovery. After training, it's beneficial to engage in active recovery techniques such as cardio-based training, massages, or sauna. In addition, it is important to avoid stressors (such as excessive physical activity) and, most importantly, to get enough quality sleep.
Even if you keep a strict, well-optimized diet and perform some perfectly composed workouts, you'll be running in circles if you don't get enough sleep. Sleep is essential for critical functions such as energy conservation, growth promotion, brain waste removal, immune response modulation, cognitive processes, disease prevention, and mental health. Research has shown that "even a single night of total sleep deprivation is sufficient to induce anabolic resistance and a procatabolic environment" (Lamon et al., 2021). While it's commonly said that it's necessary to get up early in the morning to complete all tasks, it's actually essential to get up after at least 8 hours of good quality sleep. In other cases, you may have more time, but you won't be as productive as when you're well-rested.

4, 5... supplementation, doping

As you see, the regeneration process is regulated by many components; however, one critical yet often overlooked factor is proper sleep hygiene. By this subject, we must also remember that sleeping long, doesn't mean sleeping well. But ask any personal trainer at your gym what constitutes good sleep hygiene, and you will be surprised at the difficulty they have in answering this seemingly simple question.

Good sleep hygiene enables you to:

- fall asleep much faster / help prevent sleep disorders, such as insomnia

- tremendously increase the overnight release of the human growth hormone

- optimize the functioning of the endocrine system (e.g. support testosterone secretion, prevent thyroid dysfunction)

- establish the right environment for regeneration (growth) of trained muscles

- accelerate the reduction of inflammations in the body

- improve the brain's executive functions, especially memorizing and processing the skills/information you've learned during the day.

- improve creative thinking

- improve the functioning of dopamine receptors

- improve libido and well-being

- improve the critical functions of the immune system

- feel much more rejuvenated and productive in the morning

- upregulate natural circadian rhythm

- prevent depression, obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, anxiety and brain fog

How to properly take care of sleep hygiene? (full, extensive list)

- sleep at least 7.5 hours daily

- aim to go to bed at a consistent time each night

- do not use stimulants up to 7-8 hours before bedtime (e.g., caffeine or even a black or green tea)

- limit the noise in the surrounding (turn off the TV, close windows if there is street noise, silence any ticking clocks or other distracting devices, etc.)

- take care of the right temperature in your room (it is best if the temperature is around 18 degrees Celsius / 65 degrees Fahrenheit).

- reduce stress levels (perform a short breathwork session, or splash your face with cold water. If necessary, supplement Rhodiola Rosea and Ashwagandha daily, best in the morning)

- avoid blue light at least 1-2 hours before going to sleep. (turn off your computer screen (or use, i.a. f.lux software, which minimalizes the blue light) and mobile phone, and try to minimalize the light in your room (esp. avoid LED light, which firmly disturbs melatonin release)

- avoid physical exercise up to two hours before bedtime

- clean up your airways before lying down

- practice mewing throughout the day to prevent snoring and mouth breathing

- avoid consuming alcohol shortly before bedtime (it will reduce the quality of your sleep, disrupt muscle protein synthesis, and interfere with overnight regeneration)

- refrain from drinking fluids one hour before bedtime (to avoid having to get up to go to the bathroom during the night)

- consume a meal rich in carbohydrates before sleep time (about 2-2.5 hours), (50-80g) and proteins (20-40g) while avoiding fat consumption

- if needed, supplement melatonin 1-3mg 1.5 hour before sleep. 200mg of Gingko Biloba or GABA and serotonin-based supplements also come in handy

- if you have trouble breathing, consider nasal dilators

While maintaining all of these habits on a daily basis may seem cumbersome, the benefits are well worth the effort. Give it a go, and you'll be pleasantly surprised at how well your body recovers and how productive you feel throughout the day.