I was wondering how much sleep you really need. I know everybody says that you need 8 hours every night. Im a college student and sometimes thats just not possible. Like tonight ill be up studying until late and I have to wake up at 8. I was just wondering how bad it would affect me if i only got 5 or 6 hours of sleep a night.
Well, sleep is buy far the most important aspect of building muscle. That is when your hormones comes alive and actually build the muscles. 7 to 8 is definitley recommended. But I did hear that some people get the sleep they can during the week and then on the weekend they catch up and do their major recovery then. I heard it works, but I haven’t tried it myself.
I’ve found that sleep is one of the most important factors in building muscle. If I have a long leg workout and I get little sleep (5-6hrs) for the next couple of nights I’m so sore I can hardly walk - compared to 8-9hrs sleep after the same workout. If you’re training hard and getting little sleep you will eventually get sick or just feel like shit all the time.
I remember reading that Porter Cottrell got only five hours of sleep a night. But then again, he probably was on 'roids.
hey, i’m a college student also, and I know what it’s like to not get 8 hours. But when that happens, I always take a nap. Even if I do get 8 hours, I sleep for alteast an hour during the day. I usually have lunch, then sleep for a while, then go lift. I’ll admit, there’s not a real exciting social life on the weekdays, but it’s worth it to make the gains.
This Doc that i talked to said 5 hours is the cut off point.If you get less your iq goes down and cortisol goes up.But he was talking about untrained humans.So i would recommend geting 8 maybe 7.You can break your sleep into 2 parts such as 5 and 2 or 3.
If i get anymore than seven i feel like crap all day long. i usually do real good on six to seven. Last night i only got about 5(chemistry test, damn aldehydes and ketones) and ive felt great all day. Maybe its an individual thing.
A good way to determine whether you’re getting enough sleep is if you’re alert or drowsy in those boring times of the day.That Doc i mentioned ran a sleep clinic so he knows his shit and it does’t sound like 5 hours would harm you.
thanks for all the feedback
I work pretty long hours and study part-time so I don’t get much sleep. For the past 4 years I’ve been getting about 5 hours a night which does me just fine. What makes a real difference to me is stress. When I’m stressed my recovery rate plummets and I need more sleep, so I often have to have an extra hour or two on the weekends.