Sleep and recovery go hand in hand. If you aren’t getting enough sleep, your body isn’t getting enough time to recover in between workouts. This means you should be prioritizing your sleep just as much as the workouts themselves.
With quality sleep, you’ll not only feel better the next day, but also get better workouts, and improve your performance.
Our community recently shared some tips they have found that helped them improve both their recovery and sleep.
Sleep Better, Not More
A contributor says they were always tired and needed naps even after eight or more hours of sleep. After completing a sleep study test, they discovered they had sleep apnea.
Their doctor gave them a mouthpiece that opened up their airways. The mouthpiece moved their lower jaw position in front of their upper jaw by about 6-8 mm. From then on, six hours of sleep felt much better than nine hours.
Lose Some Weight
It may be time to stop the bulk and start some cardio. A powerlifter shared that they snored a lot before they lost some weight. They’d still feel terrible and tired after seven-to-eight hours of sleep. This stopped after they lost some weight, and everyone is now much happier.
Eat More
Another lifter shares that you’re probably undereating if you lift three times a week and still feel tired. They are 5’10 and weigh 175 pounds. To maintain their muscle, they need a minimum of 2,800 calories. Most times, their body asks for 3,200 calories.
When bulking, they need 4,000 calories or more. There’s a direct correlation between food intake and fatigue levels. How you stack your food also matters. Eat dense carbs like oats and brown rice earlier in the day.
Check Your Program
Another recommends looking at your programming if you’re sure your fatigue is due to training. For example, they get sleepy when they’re on a Bulgarian-style program and heavy singles. With such programs, you could run yourself to the ground.
Cues for the Circadian Cueing
Food, temperature, and light help set your body clock to know when to sleep or be alert. One user shared that you should get sunlight in your eyes in the morning and limit screens and food before you sleep.
This will help cue your body to power up or shut down and focus on recovery when you sleep. Such routines are challenging to master in modern life and require a lot of sacrifices. But, if you manage, you’ll get A+ sleep.
Get Sleeping Gear
Another recommendation is getting blackout curtains, an old-school alarm clock instead of a phone, and a white noise fan to help you sleep better. Also recommended: leave your phone to charge in a separate room and only use your bedroom for sleeping.
Weighted Sleep
Some people shared that they started sleeping better and faster once they got a weighted blanket. Previously, their deep sleep fluctuated between ten minutes to an hour, but it is now over two hours.
Some Noise In Your Bedroom
Several members agreed that some noise may help you sleep better. You may be one of those who require gentle background music to sleep. YouTube provides multiple 24-hour + videos with audio of relaxing music and black screens. You can use the TV in your bedroom for this or convert the videos to MP3.
Your Body is Redoing Damage
A simple suggestion is that sleeping for only six hours is part of the problem. The medical community recommends seven-to-eight hours. If you’ve slept for six hours over the years, your health has probably taken some hits. It may be hard to notice since your metabolic traffic was low.
Once you start training, you ask your body to work at an elevated level. The body needs time to keep up with the rising demand and repair the infrastructure. This is a significant project, and it will take time.
Try Ashwagandha
A lifter shares that they started taking Ashwagandha recently, and it’s helped them sleep better. All other variables, like meal times and bedtime, remained constant. They propose trying different options till you find what works.