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What exactly is proper sleep for bulking?

MadeInCanada

Member
Hey guys, I always hear people say 8+ hours of sleep every 24 hour period is what your body needs to grow... and I believe it. But does this mean going to bed at a reasonable time and waking up at an early time energized and ready to go?

Because my sleep schedule is often going to bed at 1:30-2:00am, and waking up at 11:30am-ish. Now when I do this, I usually dont feel as "energized" throughout the rest of the day, even though I still got my 8 hours of sleep.

Is there a difference between the two?
 
i'm the same way, i work until 1a.m. get home around 1:30 and fall asleep between 2 and 2:30...i wake up at 1030 a.m.....always get 8 hours and i feel exhausted when i get up and not refreshed, last friday i actually stayed up until 6a.m. with a female...she had me back up at 11a.m. and i felt way better for most of the day until i crashed for alittle that night before we went out again...i don't understand sleep, u need it to grow but the more u get doesn't mean u'll feel better
 
Not all sleep is the same. Getting to REM sleep varies upon the person, which is why some people only need 4-5 hours. There are a myriad of factors that go into this and the best thing to say is to find what works for you. Cliche, I know, but it's true.
 
the trick will be getting your sleep pattern consistent. If you went to bed that time and got up that time every day, it would work out over a bit of time. Takes a few weeks probably
 
I dont really understand it either. Even when im on a regular schedual i feel exhausted in the morning and through the afternoon then at night im energetic and ready to do something. I hate it
 
Getting 8 hours doesn't mean your going to feel like the energizer bunny all day. Especially if your a bodybuilder.

Since your putting your body through physical rigors everyday, the sleep is just a part of the equation to equal out your training.

Make sure your getting proper vitamins and dietary needs throughout the day as well.

And coffee is good too :)
 
Try some ZMA, you will have deep REM sleep guaranteed, most of the time I only get 6 hours of sleep and If I take this before bed I fell great the next day, if I don't i am tired
 
ive been asking myself the same ? i work grave 10pm to 6am got to bed at 8am wake up at 4pm then start day going to gym before work i get all 8 hours but i feel damm tired at work. I think its nature saying go to sleep everything goes to shut down mode at night so even if u get enuf sleep night hours are made to recover. been doing this for years know. i just keep consistant sleep pattern even on days off
 
Rodja said:
By pattern do you mean quality or going to sleep at the same time each day?
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I have huge issues with this as well. I work shift work so in a month I work 7 night shifts and 7 day shifts (12 hour shifts). they are all jumbled around so i have no such thing as going to sleep at the same time every day. what kind of effects would this have on gains?
 
Spooly said:
ive been asking myself the same ? i work grave 10pm to 6am got to bed at 8am wake up at 4pm then start day going to gym before work i get all 8 hours but i feel damm tired at work. I think its nature saying go to sleep everything goes to shut down mode at night so even if u get enuf sleep night hours are made to recover. been doing this for years know. i just keep consistant sleep pattern even on days off
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I'm in the same boat as you, sometimes I get a lot more sleep than 8 hours to make up for the crappy sleep. With winter coming and it getting darker sooner I workout after work then go to sleep to get some sleep while its dark out
 
for me, sleep by 11, up at 8 everyday. take my ZMA and wake up energized and i dont get tired at all throughout the day. REM is very important in order to reach a full, deep sleep so ur body can produce hormones. ZMA allows this process to happen every night u take it. it also depends on what kind of activity u do at work combined with the gym, some ppl may need more sleep, and my more sleep i mean more deep, quality sleep. although too much sleep can make u tired also. for me, 8 to 10 hours a night is perfect, especially if my room is freezing. keeps me asleep
 
Rodja said:
By pattern do you mean quality or going to sleep at the same time each day?
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good point.... i mean quality of sleep.. Well it has improved, but I jus can't sleep for 8 hours. If I go to bed at 9:00pm, I fall asleep at about 9:30pm and then wake up at roughly 4:00am and can not sleep after that.. my brain just wont switch to sleep mode again. From 4 onwards, I just feel more active and more active.

At the moment, i'm using Activate Xtreme 2 caps, and ZMA prior to bed. I used to use Powerfull before but for some reason on that, i'd wake up at 2am every morning and need to piss, and then couldn't get back to sleep.
 
must remember that the body is geared to sleep when its dark and wake when is daylight, hormonally speaking that is...

thnaks to lights and tv's and **** we dont do that, i never strated growing till i sleep 9-11 hrs a night. probably due to lack of food but it worked for me bed at 10pm-up at 8amish
 
JN230 said:
must remember that the body is geared to sleep when its dark and wake when is daylight, hormonally speaking that is...

thnaks to lights and tv's and **** we dont do that, i never strated growing till i sleep 9-11 hrs a night. probably due to lack of food but it worked for me bed at 10pm-up at 8amish
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That's amazing though. I wish I went to bed at 10pm. I never end up going to bed till midnight.
 
Swoldierboy said:
for me, sleep by 11, up at 8 everyday. take my ZMA and wake up energized and i dont get tired at all throughout the day. REM is very important in order to reach a full, deep sleep so ur body can produce hormones. ZMA allows this process to happen every night u take it. it also depends on what kind of activity u do at work combined with the gym, some ppl may need more sleep, and my more sleep i mean more deep, quality sleep. although too much sleep can make u tired also. for me, 8 to 10 hours a night is perfect, especially if my room is freezing. keeps me asleep
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do u take zma every night? im looking 4 sleep aid for my bulk but read its bad to take sleep aids too often
 
Have any of you guys taken melatonin? I take 3 mg of melatonin every night along with ZMA and always get a good nights sleep and wake up feeling refreshed if i get 8-10 hours of sleep.
 
marr0094 said:
Have any of you guys taken melatonin? I take 3 mg of melatonin every night along with ZMA and always get a good nights sleep and wake up feeling refreshed if i get 8-10 hours of sleep.
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I've recently started taking melatonin on the nights that I want to get a long, refreshing sleep, and although it works well, I get super-vivid and memorable dreams every time I take it. I'll be starting on ZMA in the new year, maybe I'll post my results.
 
Proper sleep per hours and the sleep you truly need are different things. Your body starts protein-synthesis when your REMS are at thier highest. So if you got a crappy 7 hours vs. a solid 5 of REM sleep you wouldnt feel as good. But this is also very individual dependent. Aim for good sleep and ideally 8 hours if you can.
 
Concerning the sleep cycles, if I wake up at the end of a sleep cycle at let's say about 5 hours in, I feel great.

Now let's say I fall back to sleep for 3 hours, that means I wake up 8 hours in and I'm in the MIDDLE of my second sleep cycle. I feel like shiit all day.

It's possible that 8 hours just doesn't cut it for the OP and you might need 9 or 10 to find your sweet spot.
 
I was actually thinking about this the other day. Think about guys that go through boot camp. A lot of them put on muscle (I know I did) and you can say the sleep wasnt the best.
 
King,
sleep is a really interesting topic. If you have the chance to pick up a physiology text book, go straight to the 2 pages that cover sleep (SEVERELY difficiant coverage from what I've seen). Man it's interesting to see what we know and what we simply don't understand yet.

Again, I still think everyone's patterns are different. For example, I swear my body runs on a 25 hour clock. I'm not ready for sleep until about 45min or an hour later than the time I fell asleep the night before. I read once that there's about 15-20% of the population that run their circadian rhythm like this. I'd bet that applies to sleep cycles too, including quality and duration of REM periods.
 
Sleep is different for everyone, i know people who don't feel good till they get like 10hrs of sleep, plus naps through the day. For me personally I find 4-5hrs is best, I keep my body used to that, on work days and days off, and I work on drillings rigs, so I have to go from working 1 week 7am-7pm another week 7pm-7am straight but as long as I get 4-5hrs at night or during the day i'm good to go anymore then that I feel tired and sluggish through shifts, or on days off if i sleep past 5hrs i feel like i want to sleep all day! I also find that eating something heavy about 3hrs before I goto bed helps, i dunno just have to find routine and what works for you!
 
mattl said:
I was actually thinking about this the other day. Think about guys that go through boot camp. A lot of them put on muscle (I know I did) and you can say the sleep wasnt the best.
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sure, but like everything else, there are so many other variables that it can work at certain points. Like if at 5'9 you went in at 140lbs and with eating like a horse and doing everything else in boot camp you came out at the end of 8 weeks at 155, thats not totally surprising even with crap for sleep. But if you went in at a lean 180, theres no way you'd gain anything.
 
mattl said:
I was actually thinking about this the other day. Think about guys that go through boot camp. A lot of them put on muscle (I know I did) and you can say the sleep wasnt the best.
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i only got 4 hours of sleep a night during boot camp and i felt more energized then i ever have
 
sadly, i used to be a guy that ran best with 4-5 hours of sleep per night. quality of sleep is everything. now i need 8 hours to do the same thing that 5 used to do. if you're waking up ready to rock, you're doing it right.
 
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