I join a gym and my coach asks: do you sleep well at night? Because you will.
He was right. The first month I started working out I slept like a baby. Not that I did anything for it, my body just asked for it. I gave in to its needs and never thought about it twice.
However, recently I have thought about it a lot. When is sleep beneficial for the body, before or after you work out? What exactly are its benefits and how can you make sure you chip them in? And how many hours should you get: 7, 8, 9? Does our body need more hours of sleep post-hard workout? You might have the same questions.
Happy to report I did the research for you.
What You Need to Know About Sleeping After Your Workout Routine
Short version: it helps boosts your metabolism, you get even better results out of your workout.
A study published in “Annals of Internal Medicine” concludes that not getting enough sleep may reduce metabolism.? Most workouts increase muscle mass. These muscles ask that your body burns calories faster to support the growth. Apparently, our bodies burn fat more efficiently when we sleep.
Benefits Of Sleeping After Your Workout
Muscles Recover: Hard workouts pull at your muscles, extend and expand them. As with any other part of your body, they need rest after it. Getting that healthy sleep hours means you allow your muscles to take a break, repair from the little tears you subjected them to and got ready to start again.
Your Brain Needs Rest Too:?For most of us, workout time is scheduled for the evenings. And while we might want to unwind and sink into our pillows, this muscle of ours keeps us tossing and turning in our beds. If your body?s tired, your mind follows and shuts down. Practice showed me that after intensive exercise you get an excellent good night sleep.
How To Do it Right. How Much To Sleep.
Common belief states that everyone needs about 7 hours of sleep in a 24-hour window. I found interesting post on Mattress Matchers that a mattress can have a big impact on your sleep. That is the case when you do not engage in any physical activity. Tennis players have reported getting stronger results if they increase this amount to 10 hours, they ran faster and had better reflexes.
Most of us are not professional tennis players. How do we know how many hours of quality z’s we need? The answer is that sleep scientists still do not have an answer for all individuals and all bodies. It all depends on the type of workout you get and the way your body reacts. Some of us may need a longer sleep after an intense strength routine at our local gym while others sleep like a log after yoga classes.
It is up to you to listen to your body and find the answer that best fits your schedule. All you need to have in mind is to let your body enjoy the shut-eye until it?s fully rested and recouped.? To get this, you need to take into account your sleeping environment and make sure it?s ripe for quality napping. Room temperature should be between 60 and 67 degrees Fahrenheit and, a commonly disregarded aspect, make sure you have the right mattresses to lay your body to rest.