Grow Muscle While You Sleep

Grow Muscle While You Sleep

by: Robbie Durand

If you have been reading the latest articles on sleep and fat loss, it should be no surprise that getting the right amount of sleep is optimal for fat loss and recuperation. Losing as little as 30 minutes of sleep per day on weekdays can have long-term consequences for body weight and metabolism, a new study finds. While previous studies have shown that short sleep duration is associated with obesity and diabetes, researchers found that as little as 30 minutes a day sleep debt can have significant effects on obesity and insulin resistance at follow up. This reinforces earlier observations that sleep loss is additive and can have metabolic consequences. In addition to getting the right amount of sleep, you may also want to consider taking a protein based supplement before going to bed for optimal increases in muscle mass and strength according to new research.It has been demonstrated that protein ingestion before sleep increases muscle protein synthesis rates during overnight recovery from an exercise bout. However, it remains to be established whether dietary protein ingestion before sleep can effectively augment the muscle adaptive response to resistance-type exercise training. Researchers assessed the impact of dietary protein supplementation before sleep on muscle mass and strength gains during resistance-type exercise training.

Forty-four young men were randomly assigned to a progressive, 12-wk resistance exercise training program. One group consumed a protein supplement containing 27.5 g of protein, 15 g of carbohydrate, and 0.1 g of fat every night before sleep. The other group received a noncaloric placebo. Muscle hypertrophy was assessed on a whole-body (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry), limb (computed tomography scan), and muscle fiber (muscle biopsy specimen) level before and after exercise training. Strength was assessed regularly by 1-repetition maximum strength testing.

At the end of the study, muscle strength increased after resistance exercise training to a significantly greater extent in the protein-supplemented group than in the placebo-supplemented group. In addition, quadriceps muscle cross-sectional area increased in both groups over time, with a greater increase in the protein-supplemented group than in the placebo group. Both type I and type II muscle fiber size increased after exercise training, with a greater increase in type II muscle fiber size in the protein-supplemented group than in the placebo group. Specifically, leg extension and leg press strength increased by 23% and 25%, respectively, reported scientists from Maastricht University, the Dutch Olympic Committee, and the DSM Biotechnology Center Protein ingestion before sleep represents an effective dietary strategy to augment muscle mass and strength gains during resistance exercise training in young men.

This study is similair to a 2012 study, in which 16 young men were put to the test: They worked out at 8 pm for slightly less than an hour, then immediately ate a meal filled with protein and carbs. Thirty minutes before their midnight bedtime, some participants consumed a beverage with casein protein.

Scientists found that protein before sleep, the protein from the beverage increased protein synthesis rates (protein synthesis helps repair muscles) by 22 percent, compared to rates in those who did not enjoy the protein drink.

Res PT, Groen B, Pennings B, Beelen M, Wallis GA, Gijsen AP, Senden JM, VAN Loon LJ. Protein ingestion before sleep improves postexercise overnight recovery. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2012 Aug;44(8):1560-9.

T. Snijders, P.T. Res, J.S.J. Smeets, S. van Vliet, et al. “Protein Ingestion before Sleep Increases Muscle Mass and Strength Gains during Prolonged Resistance-Type Exercise Training in Healthy Young Men”Source: Journal of Nutrition 10.3945/jn.114.208371