Sleep

Sleep and food lay the basis for any muscle building, fitness goal, or general health program to be successful. In addition, sleep and food are critical for human existence at all.

We understand the benefits of sleeping properly and what happens when we do not get adequate sleep, but scientists have yet to define why we actually sleep. Rather, we have theories proposing why we sleep.

One theory is the energy conservation theory. Per healthysleep.med.harvard.edu, “the energy conservation theory suggests that the primary function of sleep is to reduce an individual’s energy demand and expenditure during part of the day or night, especially at times when it is least efficient to search for food.”

There are additional restorative theories that posit we restore what is lost in the body while we are awake. During sleep, major restorative functions occur including muscle growth, tissue repair, protein synthesis, and the release of growth hormone.

There are additional theories, but we’ll move into the phases of sleep and benefits in the future.

Phase 1 Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM): This marks the transition between being awake and sleep consisting of light sleep. Your muscle relax, heart rate+breathing slow down, and typically lasts several minutes.

Phase 2 NREM: A phase of deeper sleep, eye movements cease and body temperature decreases. Phase 2 is typically the longest of the 4 phases and brain waves will remain slow.

Phase 3 NREM: The primary phase in making you feel rested and alert upon waking. During this phase heart rate, breathing, and brain wave activity reach their lowest levels, along with maximum muscle relaxation.

Phase 4 REM: The first REM phase of sleep occurs about 90 minutes after falling asleep. During REM, your eyes move back and forth quickly while your eyes are closed. Breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure will increase. Additionally, dream typically occurs during REM, and your arms and legs will be paralyzed to possibly prevent you from physically acting on your dreams.

Throughout your sleep, these four stages will repeat every 90-120 minutes, with NREM accounting for 75% of each cycle.

Ok we know how sleep works. But how do we optimize it for the best night’s rest and performance the following day?

Sleep Optimization

There are many tactics that we will employ to give us the highest quality sleep, better feeling of restfulness upon waking, and improved acuity during the day.

Most important to note on sleep optimization is actually how much to sleep. It’s recommended the average adult sleep 7-9 hours, and those training regularly should aim for 8-9 hours of sleep each day. This can be difficult to achieve based on career, family, hobbies, and habits (good or bad). However, implementing the tactics we’ll discuss can lead to higher quality of sleep and getting enough sleep each night.

The first method to improve your night’s rest is to sync your bed time with your body’s circadian rhythm and the natural decrease in daylight exposure. This means going to bed between 9-11PM and rising between 5-7AM. Most optimal is 10PM to 6AM. If you struggle to go to bed early, you may need to reset your body’s natural sleep timing. You’ll simply need to wake up at your goal wake-up time the first night, regardless of when you go to bed. This could been midnight to 6am, or whenever you typically go to bed. By forcing yourself to rise at your goal wake-up time, you’ll most certainly be ready to sleep the following night at your goal rest time (10PM recommended). Then it becomes setting the bedtime as a habit and applying the rest of our sleep optimization tactics.

Next, to optimize your sleep we recommend improving the actual conditions you sleep in. One condition is the temperature of your house/bedroom. It’s recommended to sleep in anywhere from 60 to 67 degrees fahrenheit to better facilitate stable REM cycles. The other critical condition is the light exposure in your bedroom. We recommend getting your room as DARK as possible. Minimizing any light exposure with blackout curtains, removing any ambient lighting or wall outlets with LEDs will facilitate much better sleep.

Relaxation: Allow your body to decompress 1-2 hours prior to bedtime. This could mean many things, but primarily limiting any heavy exercise, mentally challenging work, and mentally stimulating tasks including video games. Breathing exercises, a warm shower followed by light stretching, warm tea, and limiting blue light are all excellent methods to allow your body to wind down and relax prior to bed.

Stimulants/Depressants (Nicotine, Caffeine, Alcohol, THC): All of the mentioned substances should be avoided prior to bedtime. It’s recommended not to consume any caffeine after 2-3pm, and avoid nicotine 2-3 hours prior to bedtime, as both can lead to restlessness. Alcohol and THC can be damaging to REM sleep when used prior to bedtime, with alcohol having the most severe effects on sleep quality and duration.

Napping: Avoid napping for longer than 25-30 minutes each day, and avoid any naps in the late afternoon or evening (past 2-3pm).

Consistency: This comes down to doing the same thing, EVERY day. Although this may be a difficult habit to emplace, maintaining the same sleep and wake times every day, including weekends, is the most effective method to keep your body’s sleep cycle in check and ensure you get an excellent night of rest every night.

Blue Light: One of the most common inhibitors in quality sleep is blue light prior to bed. This includes your phone, video games, or your computer. Avoid any blue light 30-60 minutes prior to bed. By using sources of blue light late at night, you prevent your natural circadian rhythm from kicking in and allowing your body to decompress prior to bed.

Hormones

The following information is from: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/sleep/

There are many hormones that regulate our sleep cycles that we’ll discuss today. These include:

GABA, Adenosine, Melatonin, Serotonin, Norepinephrine, adrenaline, histamine, and cortisol

There are various neurotransmitters and hormones released by the brain that send signals to promote sleep or wakefulness. Many of these chemicals are stimulated by light or darkness.

Gamma-Aminobutyric acid, or GABA, is a neurotransmitter that decreases nerve cell activity, playing a major role in allowing the body to sleep.

Adenosine is another neurotransmitter that gradually accumulates in the brain during the day, and at high concentrations makes us sleepy at night. Caffeine in coffee and other beverages can keep us awake as it blocks brain receptors for adenosine.

Melatonin is a hormone released by the brain when it is dark. It travels to cells to tell the body to sleep. Sunlight or exposure to light inhibits the production of melatonin and increases the release of cortisol, which awakens us. If we are exposed to too much artificial light (such as the blue light emitted from smartphones or televisions) late at night, less melatonin may be released making it harder to fall asleep.

Serotonin, the body’s “feel-good” chemical, is a neurotransmitter associated with both sleep and being awake. The brain releases this chemical during daylight but also uses it to form melatonin at night.

Additional hormones that counteract sleep include norepinephrine, adrenaline, histamine, and cortisol. In response to stress, the body secretes these hormones and cause the body to stay awake and alert.

Supplementation

This is a rather fun topic in the realm of sleep optimization. However, no supplement can replace the aforementioned tactics to optimize sleep through your lifestyle. Although supplements can assist in getting a good night’s rest, without the proper lifestyle habits your sleep quality will never be at its peak.

Glycine: Recommended dosage is 3-6g at night, which I typically stir in with my tea at night. Glycine taken orally is shown to elevate serotonin levels, reduce symptoms of insomnia, as well as improve overall sleep quality and feeling of restfulness upon waking.

Melatonin: Although we do not recommend taking melatonin at night to prevent dependency, taking in small doses is shown to improve time to sleep. If you decide to go this route, it is recommended to use 300-500 micrograms, not milligrams, before bedtime.

Zinc + Magnesium: The combination of zinc and magnesium is commonly found in the supplement called ZMA. It is shown to improve overall sleep qualitysleep quality. Additionally, studies show magnesium helps activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for helping your body feel calm and relaxed

Sleepytime Tea: Although not a true “supplement”, sleepytime tea 30-60 minutes prior to bedtime paired with dissolved glycine is an excellent addition to your bedtime routine and process of winding down, relaxing, and allowing your body to prepare for a full night of rest.