Sleep is Essential for Muscle Growth and Recuperation

Sleep is Essential for Muscle Growth and Recuperation

by: Robbie Durand

Any serious lifter has had that night where they took too much caffeine pre-workout, which then resulted in them staring at the ceiling until 3 a.m. While caffeine is great for enhancing daily performance in the gym, many users consequently experience insomnia and decreased overall sleep quality.

In the U.S., the average daily consumption of caffeine from beverages is 165 mg while the highest percentile of coffee drinkers consumes up to 380 mg/day. Getting a good night sleep is essential for muscle growth and recuperation, but many lifters can’t go to the gym without their pre-workout stimulants.

Luckily, there maybe a solution for calming the post-workout jitters at night with the amino acid that enhances sleep called GABA. GABA is an important inhibitory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system, it’s involved in normal sleep physiology. Studies suggest that GABA receptor agonists and uptake inhibitors alleviate sleep disturbance and help regulate circadian rhythm. Many of the traditional sleep pharmaceutical drugs work on interactingwith the GABA receptor for sleep.Researchers wanted to examine whether GABA could ameliorate caffeine-induced sleep disturbance in mice. They gave mice a supra-physiological dose of caffeine (10 mg/kg) which delayed sleep onset and reduced sleep duration in mice. The mice were also given GABA to see if the GABA would counteract the sleep disturbances caused by caffeine.

At the end of the study, GABA was able to counteract caffeine-induced sleep disturbance and decreased sleep reduction in mice. The results of the study suggest increased sleep duration from GABA administration, which remarkably neutralized the sleep-disrupting effects of caffeine. GABA acts to counteract the adverse effects of the adenosine receptor, as caffeine to block the actions of caffeine whereas GABA acts to increase the actions of GABA. GABA may also increase the levels of melatonin and serotonin in the brain adding to its sleep-promoting properties.

This study reports that positive benefits of GABA counteracting the stimulating effects of caffeine which may be useful for bodybuilders who want the best of both worlds for having a strong pre-workout and also quality sleep, then add some GABA at night for post-exercise recovery. If you’re looking to enhance your sleep, you may want to consider a high-quality sleep product like Cyclo Rem before bed to counteract caffeine induced sleeplessness.

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