“Laugh & the world Laughs with you, snore and you sleep alone .”

Anthony Burgess, Inside Mr. Enderby

Sleep - Performance, Hormones & Routine:

Our brain and body require some amount of sleep so that it can perform the basic human functions. You know that feeling after a terrible nights sleep, where you feel like you can't even speak in normal sentences? That's a sign you're sleep deprived.

As a general rule, 7+ hours of sleep a night is what is required to properly recover, keep hormones regulated and maintain brain function.

When we finally do get some precious shut eye - the quality of what we get also dictates how we feel waking up the next day. The quality of sleep can be measured (there's a million apps for our phones, Whoop does a good sleep tracker), but understanding the stages of sleep and how we can help improve it, is one way to turbo charge your performance in the gym!

STAGE 1 - Light sleep

STAGE 2 - Transition from light sleep to deeper sleep. Your body temperature drops, breathing and heart rate slows, and your brain wave activity decreases.

STAGE 3 + 4 - This is where sleep gets progressively deeper. It's known as 'quiet sleep' because brain activity is minimal and your body movement is next to none.

REM Sleep - Rapid Eye Movement Sleep is still very deep sleep, but brain activity increases due to dreaming but your body is essentially paralyzed while this occurs.

Performance:

Consistently 'under sleeping' can have huge impacts on your performance at the gym. Research has shown that under 7 hours of sleep a night can decrease the physical gains your would get from adequate recovery sleep - in fact, the hormones released when tired start to burn away muscle tissue!

Increased risk of injury and emotional instability also play a big part in your ability to back it up at the gym, day in, day out.

Hormones:

Because your brain needs at least 7 hours of down time a day, when it's overly active (when you don't get enough sleep) it releases certain hormones to try and 'protect' itself.

Conversely, that magical number of 7+ hours a night will actually increase the brains release of hormones that help us build muscle and savour all those gains from training!

Sleep Routine Tips:

• Make sleep a priority! 7+ hours a night is crucial

• Get up at the same time each day - avoid long weekend sleep ins

• Air flow and cool temperature is best in the bedroom, 18 - 20 degrees research shows!

• The darker, the better! Make your bedroom as dark as possible

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