Sleep and Recovery
Created On: Jan 8, 2021
Dr. Chirag Sethi * , Dr. Swarna Anchal **
* Director, Classic Fitness Academy, New Delhi.
** Technical Writer, Classic Fitness Academy, New Delhi.
Physical activity increases our heart rate and blood flow hence boosting energy and making us
feel awake. It is one of the many other benefits of working out. However, after high intensity workouts,
body get tired, after all, it requires a lot of energy and stamina. Fatigued muscles do not able to protect
their associated connective tissues so that the risk of damage to bones, cartilage, tendons, and ligaments
increases. If we feel tired after a workout means body may want to take rest. It is not a cause for concern
as it is normal to feel tired post workout. During exercise, our central nervous system (CNS) continuously
fires signals to activate muscles and they repeatedly contract. Muscles use adenosine tri-phosphate
(ATP) for muscle contractions as ATP is a molecule that provides energy to the cells hence ATP levels
decrease as we continue working out resulting in muscle fatigue. In addition, exercise enhances various
neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin which reduces CNS capacity to activate muscles,
leading to central fatigue resulting you may feel tired and want a nap (Kim et al, 2015).
A lot of studies have indicated that people require proper sleep for better physiological functions
(Morris et al, 2012). Recovery time reduces injury rates by providing necessary amount of time to rebuild
and repair muscle tissues themselves between workouts. Recovery should not be viewed as methods to
eliminate soreness but the aim of any recovery strategy is to reduce the amount of time it takes for the
body to return to baseline or as a planned strategy to optimize the time between training periods to come
back stronger. Recovery can be passive or active; where the involvement such as massage from the
beneficiary (Olivier et al, 2018).
Every person’s energy level depends on many factors including fitness level, duration, intensity
and frequency of exercise, diet, hydration level, underlying medical conditions etc (Beck, 2015). It should
be remembered that training period and rest period are directly proportional to each other means increase
in training must require increase in resting too. When training volume increases by more than 2-3 percent,
one should ensure to get more sleep and rest during the day.
The significant point to think upon is how much time does it take for the muscles to fully recover
after an intense workout and it was reported that rate of protein synthesis in muscles that are stressed by
a hard workout increases by 50% after four hours of workout while the rate of synthesis in muscles that
are not targeted during training remains unchanged. Short-term recovery, sometimes called active
recovery, occurs in the hours immediately following intense exercise and included in cool-down phase as
well as the following days of workout (Ross, 2015). The major focus of recovery immediately following
exercise is replenishing energy, fluids and optimizing protein synthesis by consuming the right meal. It's
also a time for removal of chemicals that build up as a result of cell activity during exercise.
In this article, we’ll discuss how the sleep is necessary for muscle recovery, its mechanism, pros
and cons of post-exercise napping, along with tips for doing it right.
Pros and cons
The advantages of napping after a workout include muscle recovery, improved sleep, reduced
physical fatigue and increased mental alertness.
??? Muscle recovery: During sleep, growth hormones are released by pituitary gland that is needed
by muscles to repair and build tissue and essential for muscle growth and performance (Cheung
et al, 2003). Growth hormones not only promote healing, recovery, and growth but also helps to
raise other hormones vital to recovery, such as insulin-like growth factor-1 (Morris et al, 2012).
??? Improved sleep debt: Sleep deprivation hinders muscle recovery, slows down cognitive function
and weakens the immune system ultimately contributing to poor performance. These effects can
be reduced by taking a nap or by getting more rest (Macdonald, 2014).
??? Reduce physical fatigue. Taking nap after workout encourages muscle recovery and decreases
fatigue and one can feel active to handle other obligations during the rest of the day.
??? Increased mental alertness. Similarly, taking a nap after exercise can boost mental energy. The
person, who wakes up early to work out, can feel less tired by taking a nap.
However, drawbacks of taking a nap after exercise include poor nap quality, increased grogginess and
disrupted night sleeping.
??? Poor nap quality. Body temperature and level of endorphins increases after exercise and these
changes can keep your brain and body awake and might take time to sleep.
??? Increased fatigue. A longer nap beyond 30-40 min. might enter you the deeper stages of sleep.
You’ll feel sleepy and perplexed when you wake up, known as sleep inertia (Cheung, 2003).
??? Disrupted nighttime sleeping: napping can negatively affect nighttime sleep specifically for the
persons who have trouble falling asleep later at night. In addition, if anyone has a sleep disorder,
napping may worsen the symptoms. Sleep-deprived persons were shown to have impaired
glucose metabolism, decreased testosterone, and increased afternoon cortisol secretions
(Reynolds et al, 2012).
Keys to Recovery
The following tips may help promote recovery following your workout:
??? Do not train or train at minimal level if you feel tired on a particular day. It points that body is still
in the recovery process and an intense workout at this time will not be productive. You can
postpone your workout plan and carry it out the following day when you feel fully recovered.
??? To raise the number of quality workouts you can plan it by using the 36-hour principle. For
example, an intense workout on Monday morning, another Tuesday evening, and a third intense
session on Thursday morning, thus fitting three tough sessions into a time frame which usually
accommodates just two. You could then take Friday off and complete a long workout on
Saturday.
??? To boost recovery, make sure you refill yourself with ample amounts of carbohydrate shortly after
your training sessions.
??? Monitor yourself if you look forward to each training session with high energy and determination,
you are recovering well and if you are feeling tired during many of your workouts then you can
improve your performances not by working harder but by increasing the quality and quantity of
your recovery/rest.
Conclusion
“People don’t respect sleep enough,” says Daniel O’Hearn, a sleep disorders specialist at Johns
Hopkins University. “They feel that they can do more by allowing themselves less time for sleep. But they
do sleep; they sleep at work, or driving to work.”
Balanced diet, an intense exercise program and getting the right amount of sleep are ingredients to
help anyone decrease body fat or increase muscle mass and strength (Greer et al, 2013). Strive for 7 to 8
hours of sleep a night but day time nap should be limited to 20 minutes as napping for 30 to 60 minutes
may enter you deep sleep and will disturb nighttime sleep. The person who prefers the evening workout
must go to bed early instead. To get the most out of your post-workout nap, one should also keep these
points in mind as to choose the right time for nap (Morris et al, 2012) and avoid evening time, Stretch the
muscle before napping, Rehydrate the body, Keep the bedroom cool and darken, reduce noise and
Prioritize nighttime sleep. However, still there are so many factors that can affect sleep quality of a person
including medications taken by person, alcohol and caffeine consumption. People who think their
medications are decreasing there sleep time they should check with their physician. Alcohol and caffeine
are addictive in nature and suppresses deep sleep; produces sleep fragmentation and have a deep effect
on the central nervous system by blocking adenosine receptors and may cause insomnia.
References:
(1) Ross J (2015). Passive vs. active recovery: Which is more effective? American Council on
Exercise.
(2) Kim TW, Jeong JH, Hong SC (2015). The impact of sleep and circadian disturbance on hormones
and metabolism. International Journal of Endocrinology.
(3) Olivier D, Wafa D , Dimitri T , Laurent B, Benoit D (2018). An Evidence-Based Approach for
Choosing Post-exercise Recovery Techniques to Reduce Markers of Muscle Damage, Soreness,
Fatigue, and Inflammation: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis. Front Physiology 26(9):403.
(4) Macdonald GZ, Button DC, Drinkwater EJ, Behm DG (2014). Foam rolling as a recovery tool after
an intense bout of physical activity. Medicine and Science in Sports and Excercise 46(1):131-42.
(5) Cheung K, Hume P, Maxwell L (2003). Delayed onset muscle soreness: treatment strategies and
performance factors. Sports Medicine 33(2):145-64.
(6) Morris CJ, Aeschbach D, Frank AJ, Scheer L (2012). Circadian system, sleep and endocrinology.
Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology 349(1):91-104.
(7) Reynolds S, Wilson C, Austin J, Hooper L (2012). Effects of psychotherapy for anxiety in children
and adolescents: a meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review 32(4):251-62.
(8) Greer SM, Goldstein AN, Walker MP (2013). The impact of sleep deprivation on food desire in the
human brain. Nature Communications 4:2259.
(9) Beck KL, Thomson JS, Swift RJ, Von Hurst PR (2015). Role of nutrition in performance
enhancement and post exercise recovery. Open Access Journal of Sports and Medicine. 6:259-
267.
(10) Dalleck LC. Training recovery: The most important component of your clients’ exercise programs.
American Council on Exercise.
* Director, Classic Fitness Academy, New Delhi.
** Technical Writer, Classic Fitness Academy, New Delhi.
Physical activity increases our heart rate and blood flow hence boosting energy and making us
feel awake. It is one of the many other benefits of working out. However, after high intensity workouts,
body get tired, after all, it requires a lot of energy and stamina. Fatigued muscles do not able to protect
their associated connective tissues so that the risk of damage to bones, cartilage, tendons, and ligaments
increases. If we feel tired after a workout means body may want to take rest. It is not a cause for concern
as it is normal to feel tired post workout. During exercise, our central nervous system (CNS) continuously
fires signals to activate muscles and they repeatedly contract. Muscles use adenosine tri-phosphate
(ATP) for muscle contractions as ATP is a molecule that provides energy to the cells hence ATP levels
decrease as we continue working out resulting in muscle fatigue. In addition, exercise enhances various
neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin which reduces CNS capacity to activate muscles,
leading to central fatigue resulting you may feel tired and want a nap (Kim et al, 2015).
A lot of studies have indicated that people require proper sleep for better physiological functions
(Morris et al, 2012). Recovery time reduces injury rates by providing necessary amount of time to rebuild
and repair muscle tissues themselves between workouts. Recovery should not be viewed as methods to
eliminate soreness but the aim of any recovery strategy is to reduce the amount of time it takes for the
body to return to baseline or as a planned strategy to optimize the time between training periods to come
back stronger. Recovery can be passive or active; where the involvement such as massage from the
beneficiary (Olivier et al, 2018).
Every person’s energy level depends on many factors including fitness level, duration, intensity
and frequency of exercise, diet, hydration level, underlying medical conditions etc (Beck, 2015). It should
be remembered that training period and rest period are directly proportional to each other means increase
in training must require increase in resting too. When training volume increases by more than 2-3 percent,
one should ensure to get more sleep and rest during the day.
The significant point to think upon is how much time does it take for the muscles to fully recover
after an intense workout and it was reported that rate of protein synthesis in muscles that are stressed by
a hard workout increases by 50% after four hours of workout while the rate of synthesis in muscles that
are not targeted during training remains unchanged. Short-term recovery, sometimes called active
recovery, occurs in the hours immediately following intense exercise and included in cool-down phase as
well as the following days of workout (Ross, 2015). The major focus of recovery immediately following
exercise is replenishing energy, fluids and optimizing protein synthesis by consuming the right meal. It's
also a time for removal of chemicals that build up as a result of cell activity during exercise.
In this article, we’ll discuss how the sleep is necessary for muscle recovery, its mechanism, pros
and cons of post-exercise napping, along with tips for doing it right.
Pros and cons
The advantages of napping after a workout include muscle recovery, improved sleep, reduced
physical fatigue and increased mental alertness.
??? Muscle recovery: During sleep, growth hormones are released by pituitary gland that is needed
by muscles to repair and build tissue and essential for muscle growth and performance (Cheung
et al, 2003). Growth hormones not only promote healing, recovery, and growth but also helps to
raise other hormones vital to recovery, such as insulin-like growth factor-1 (Morris et al, 2012).
??? Improved sleep debt: Sleep deprivation hinders muscle recovery, slows down cognitive function
and weakens the immune system ultimately contributing to poor performance. These effects can
be reduced by taking a nap or by getting more rest (Macdonald, 2014).
??? Reduce physical fatigue. Taking nap after workout encourages muscle recovery and decreases
fatigue and one can feel active to handle other obligations during the rest of the day.
??? Increased mental alertness. Similarly, taking a nap after exercise can boost mental energy. The
person, who wakes up early to work out, can feel less tired by taking a nap.
However, drawbacks of taking a nap after exercise include poor nap quality, increased grogginess and
disrupted night sleeping.
??? Poor nap quality. Body temperature and level of endorphins increases after exercise and these
changes can keep your brain and body awake and might take time to sleep.
??? Increased fatigue. A longer nap beyond 30-40 min. might enter you the deeper stages of sleep.
You’ll feel sleepy and perplexed when you wake up, known as sleep inertia (Cheung, 2003).
??? Disrupted nighttime sleeping: napping can negatively affect nighttime sleep specifically for the
persons who have trouble falling asleep later at night. In addition, if anyone has a sleep disorder,
napping may worsen the symptoms. Sleep-deprived persons were shown to have impaired
glucose metabolism, decreased testosterone, and increased afternoon cortisol secretions
(Reynolds et al, 2012).
Keys to Recovery
The following tips may help promote recovery following your workout:
??? Do not train or train at minimal level if you feel tired on a particular day. It points that body is still
in the recovery process and an intense workout at this time will not be productive. You can
postpone your workout plan and carry it out the following day when you feel fully recovered.
??? To raise the number of quality workouts you can plan it by using the 36-hour principle. For
example, an intense workout on Monday morning, another Tuesday evening, and a third intense
session on Thursday morning, thus fitting three tough sessions into a time frame which usually
accommodates just two. You could then take Friday off and complete a long workout on
Saturday.
??? To boost recovery, make sure you refill yourself with ample amounts of carbohydrate shortly after
your training sessions.
??? Monitor yourself if you look forward to each training session with high energy and determination,
you are recovering well and if you are feeling tired during many of your workouts then you can
improve your performances not by working harder but by increasing the quality and quantity of
your recovery/rest.
Conclusion
“People don’t respect sleep enough,” says Daniel O’Hearn, a sleep disorders specialist at Johns
Hopkins University. “They feel that they can do more by allowing themselves less time for sleep. But they
do sleep; they sleep at work, or driving to work.”
Balanced diet, an intense exercise program and getting the right amount of sleep are ingredients to
help anyone decrease body fat or increase muscle mass and strength (Greer et al, 2013). Strive for 7 to 8
hours of sleep a night but day time nap should be limited to 20 minutes as napping for 30 to 60 minutes
may enter you deep sleep and will disturb nighttime sleep. The person who prefers the evening workout
must go to bed early instead. To get the most out of your post-workout nap, one should also keep these
points in mind as to choose the right time for nap (Morris et al, 2012) and avoid evening time, Stretch the
muscle before napping, Rehydrate the body, Keep the bedroom cool and darken, reduce noise and
Prioritize nighttime sleep. However, still there are so many factors that can affect sleep quality of a person
including medications taken by person, alcohol and caffeine consumption. People who think their
medications are decreasing there sleep time they should check with their physician. Alcohol and caffeine
are addictive in nature and suppresses deep sleep; produces sleep fragmentation and have a deep effect
on the central nervous system by blocking adenosine receptors and may cause insomnia.
References:
(1) Ross J (2015). Passive vs. active recovery: Which is more effective? American Council on
Exercise.
(2) Kim TW, Jeong JH, Hong SC (2015). The impact of sleep and circadian disturbance on hormones
and metabolism. International Journal of Endocrinology.
(3) Olivier D, Wafa D , Dimitri T , Laurent B, Benoit D (2018). An Evidence-Based Approach for
Choosing Post-exercise Recovery Techniques to Reduce Markers of Muscle Damage, Soreness,
Fatigue, and Inflammation: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis. Front Physiology 26(9):403.
(4) Macdonald GZ, Button DC, Drinkwater EJ, Behm DG (2014). Foam rolling as a recovery tool after
an intense bout of physical activity. Medicine and Science in Sports and Excercise 46(1):131-42.
(5) Cheung K, Hume P, Maxwell L (2003). Delayed onset muscle soreness: treatment strategies and
performance factors. Sports Medicine 33(2):145-64.
(6) Morris CJ, Aeschbach D, Frank AJ, Scheer L (2012). Circadian system, sleep and endocrinology.
Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology 349(1):91-104.
(7) Reynolds S, Wilson C, Austin J, Hooper L (2012). Effects of psychotherapy for anxiety in children
and adolescents: a meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review 32(4):251-62.
(8) Greer SM, Goldstein AN, Walker MP (2013). The impact of sleep deprivation on food desire in the
human brain. Nature Communications 4:2259.
(9) Beck KL, Thomson JS, Swift RJ, Von Hurst PR (2015). Role of nutrition in performance
enhancement and post exercise recovery. Open Access Journal of Sports and Medicine. 6:259-
267.
(10) Dalleck LC. Training recovery: The most important component of your clients’ exercise programs.
American Council on Exercise.
