Sleeping??

[work_hard777]

Does sleep actually also help building muscle or does it not matter as much?

 

[blut wump]

Your body releases much of your daily hormone quota while you sleep. Good sleep is very important to sustained progress in the weights room.

 

[URZA]

without sleep its like not lifting weights and expecting to see results.

 

[HunterUk]

Think of the weight training as the stimulus telling your body to adapt and the resting as your body actually adapting, you need lots of it.

 

[super_rice]

Sleeping is absolutely necessary to recover, if not for your body, then your CNS / neuromuscular system.

 

[BlueberryRock]

What studies, if any, have been done on this subject? I'd be interested to see them, as I don't really get very much more than 6 hours sleep on average.

 

[kiosk]

What studies, if any, have been done on this subject? I'd be interested to see them, as I don't really get very much more than 6 hours sleep on average.

me neither, and the more I try to sleep the less I end up getting.
I have read a few books on this and they all point to that sleep needs vary widely from individuals, with some as litle as 4 hours to others needing as much as 10 hours. They also say that what really matters is the "quality" of sleep.
Deep sleep (little or no dreaming) is when most of the testosterone is released, however REM sleep (vivid dreaming) does not because the brain is to active. But you need both. During deep sleep your body is rebuilding, replacing muscle cells and when you are dreaming (REM) your brain is re-allocating memories from short term to long term neurons and shifting stuff in between, one of the reasons why you might dream of things that dont make any sense.
Anyways, maybe a little of subject but bottom line you need "quality sleep" more importantly than "quantity" as the latter depends on the person.

 

[gimp]

I know this much about my body: the more I sleep the bigger/better I look

whether dieting or bulking I get in at least 9 hours per day. that is usually 7-8 hours sleep with 1 or 2 30mins or 60 mins naps. my body has trouble recovering if I get less. One year I slept so much when bulking I must have gained 15 pounds solid on minimal drugs.

 

[coolcolj]

the more the better, makes a huge difference!

especially with recharging the nervous system

 

[NorgePrecision]

I've always had around 6 hours of sleep and been fine. Maybe I would grow more if I had as much as 8 a night. I'll see if I can get into an 8 hour schedule at college. With 9 a.m. classes, I hope I can get in bed by midnight.

 

[JL_204]

Ive been on holidays for the past week and ive been sleeping for 10 hours per night. For me this is too much sleep. I feel tired and groggy all day.
7-8 hours is just right.

 

[Neo22]

you need sleep

 

[musketeer]

I made my best gains sleeping from 22:00 - 05:00 and then a one hour nap in the afternoon = 8 hours. I belive the nap to be really important; I had it about 2 hours after my 11:00 workout.