i am confused

T

triplec223

0
I have read (on these forums) that sleep is very important in buildling muscle because that is when your body repairs muscle that has been "damaged" during a weight training session.

BUT, I've also read that to sustain itself for the 6-10 hours of sleep, your body will begin to break down muscle to get the nutrients that it needs. This is why you need to eat some form of slow-digesting casein protein before going to sleep, so that your body will have a continuous supply of amino acids and will not have to break down muscle.

But to me, this sounds like conflicting information.

If your body repairs muscle during sleep, then how can it break it down to get nutrients at the same time? I may just be misunderstanding what is going on, so would someone please clear this up for me? Thanks for the help.
 
Sleep is VERY important for recovery and many other functions of the body. Its a balancing act and although your body might go in a mild catabolic state when sleeping its nothing to worry about.

If you wakeup to go to the bathroom slam down a protein drink.
 
well, its two different processes really, and that's why they can be at odds with each other.

We don't only recover when asleep...to be more accurate, you grow outside the gym, not in it...your time in the gym is simply to trigger the response to grow the muscle.

to maintain the body, you want a steady flow of protein, as this maintains a 'positive nitrogen balance'. as long as you stay positive, you shouldn't go catabolic...muscle wasting.

slow digesting protein at night is a way to try to maintain positive balance for the 8 hours you're unconscious and cannot eat every 2-3 hours.

Believe me, some bodybuilder DO wake up in the middle of the night and knock back a 30g protein serving, and pass right back out. Most of us are no where near that kind of dietary demand (nor are we competiting)
 
Okay, so if we were willing to wake up in the middle of the night and drink or eat something to compensate for the muscle breakdown going on, will it fix the problem?

I mean, we sleep everyday, so if we can eliminate muscle break-down during the night, then we are saving ourselves a lot of progress regression.

-Roek
 
Roek,

not necessarily. during sleep, your metabolism slows down as well.

its very debatable whether the 3am protein intake would be worth the interruption in sleep pattern. the body WILL notice that it didn't get a solid 7-8 hours sleep with the long deep REM states.

Really, unless you are well over 200lbs and have tons of muscle...like a heavyweight bodybuilder, the minute amount of time in the middle of the night without protein isn't significant.
you'd be better served by eating a slow digesting protein right before bed (like, literally IN BED) along with some fats to slow digestion, and then immediately knocking back a whey shake as soon as you wake up to resume positive nitrogen balance.

that's my take on it.
 
Slow diegesting protein? Cottage cheese and casein protein. You shouldn't really taking in carbs (even slow digesting ones) right before you sleep though. taking in some flax oil before bed will help slow down your digestion even more though...that's why it was said that you should have a protein/fat meal before bedtime.
 
xtonymarsx said:
Slow diegesting protein? Cottage cheese and casein protein. You shouldn't really taking in carbs (even slow digesting ones) right before you sleep though. taking in some flax oil before bed will help slow down your digestion even more though...that's why it was said that you should have a protein/fat meal before bedtime.
Click to expand...

thats a bit hard for me sometimes, since i work out in the evening, and post workout meals should be carbs + protein..
well its only a problem with jujitsu class, im not home before its like 9:45 maybe. and jujitsu is cardio, so i guess i need carbs after cardio.
 
What time do you go to sleep Karky? Personally I get out of the gym between 7:30 and 8pm...so I have my post workout at 9pm...and a casein shake around 11 or 11:30pm and hit the sack around midnight.
 
I feel it all depends on the individual. some tolerate carbs at bed, some don't.

but I'd avoid carbs at the bedtime meal when cutting for sure. stick to P + F.
 
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