Less sleep the night before, in order to sleep more the night after a strength workout
I know about the importance of good sleep after strength workouts, due to the release of growth hormone during deep sleep.
No matter how hard I try, my body refuses to sleep more than 6 hours. Going to bed early only means I will wake up spontaneously before the alarm clock. The only exception happens when I sleep two hours or less (not often), then my body will allow me to sleep for 8 or 9 hours the following day.
A few days ago I had my strength training session after having slept only 2 hours. I didnīt perform much worse than usually. Interestingly, since I had some sleep debt I could go to bed early that night and get 9 hours of natural post-workout sleep!
Which leads me to the following: perhaps it is not a bad idea to restrict your sleep time the night before a workout, so that you get more sleep the night before, just before having exposed your muscles to micro-trauma in the Gym.
Is that a known method? Is it unhealthy?
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Being deprived of sleep can significantly affect your testosterone levels. "I can drop your testosterone level to zero by depriving you of sleep for one night." - Dr. Kirk Parsley
I would recommend against your approach. For more information about the importance of sleep, listen to this episode of Barbell Shrugged.
This is a terrible idea.
Being sleep-deprived makes that workout suffer, particularly for high-intensity workouts.
More importantly, sleep debt is not "paid back" with a single night of copious sleep. Not getting enough sleep can take a few days to fix.
IMHO
Quit drinking too much coffee.
It helps.
Also low carb diets reduce sleep hours
and fasting as well.
But generally , there is no reason to sleep less in order to sleep more.
Heavy workout effect is much longer then 1 day.
I wrote a full blown blog post on this exact issue. You can check it out here: www.primalbulletproof.blogspot.co.nz/2015/01/my-favourite-sleeping-well-techniques.html
To summarize, sleep is critical for immunity repair and to be at your cognitive peak. I can especially feel the lack of sleep the morning after when I do my gym training session. Everything feels a bit harder and you don't even enjoy the day as much.
Here are some suggestion and recommendation which will help you sleep better:
Most important thing is to sleep in a dark room. Turn off all the damn lights, put your electronic devices in flight mode.
Timing and routine: It's helpful to sleep on the same time everyday, including weekends. Bodybrain likes routine. Even if you sleep late some day, you will notice that you will still end up waking up at the same time. This is because body has already started releasing cortisol hormone which reaches it's peak just before we get up and that helps us wake up.
Lighting before you sleep: Excessive indoor lighting after sunset inhibits melatonin production, that's your sleep hormone. Try reducing the light at home or in your room as your get closer to sleep time.
Blue blockers and f.lux - All of us end up watching TV or using digital devices even very close to the sleep time. It's a great idea to wear blue blockers in the night and optionally run f.lux software on your laptopmac. Blue blockers will block with blue spectrum of light which inhibits melatonin production.
Try honey and magnesium: Magnesium helps relax muscles (in addition to 100s of other things for which it is needed). Get a good magnesium supplement, the ones ending in -ate.
Have it just before you sleep.
Optionally, also try half a spoon of raw honey before you sleep. Make sure to use the raw one and not processed one. Honey being fructose is metabolized by the liver and brain preferentially uses liver glycogen (or sugar) in the night, as we sleep. Remember, brain is still doing critical work and processes as we are sleeping and this extra bit of energy in the form of liver glycogen will keep it happy.
Food: Get plenty of fat and some carbs in the night: Fats will provide you with steady and sustained energy as you sleep. Carbs in the night (back loading) instead of in the morning (front loading) is a much smarter idea for most people. I have starches like rice and sweet potato in mind. I can't recommend whole bread since it has gluten and even otherwise is very processed and is made from grains.
No coffee after 2 pm: Or at least 8 hours before you sleep.
Hot shower before sleeping - I haven't tried this personally but some people swear by it. Take a hot shower before you sleep and just relax in the bath tub for a bit. If you like, even put on some candles. May sound a bit woo woo but it's all about setting up the environment and giving your body and brain some time to diffuse and relax.
Hope it helps.
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