Tag: muscle recovery

  • 10 Proven Techniques for Achieving Quality Sleep at Night

    10 Proven Techniques for Achieving Quality Sleep at Night

    When we get quality sleep at night we feel a whole lot better the next day. That’s a given. We’re full of energy, enthusiasm, and as alert and sharp as can be. Quality sleep keeps our hormones balanced which is an important factor when it comes to building muscle, fighting weight gain, and recovering from our workouts faster.

    If you’re constantly tossing and turning, waking up in the middle of the night, or can’t ever seem to fall asleep, you’re not alone. In a recent HFP study with ~382 participants, 45% described their sleep as “Eh, OK, Average” and 28% described it as “Inconsistent”. It’s also worth noting, these are HFP followers (you!) who exercise regularly and consider health a top priority.

    Give some of these lifestyle tweaks a try, they may just help you get more shut eye.

    Related: The perfect day for brain and body performance

    1. Drop the temperature in your room to create a quality sleep environment

    Our bodies need a core temperature drop to sleep. Trying lower your heat a few degrees at night and see if it helps. Sleep studies and research show that temperatures between 60-67 are best for quality sleep, and temperatures above 75 or below 54 are disruptive.

    2. Take a hot shower or bath to fight restlessness

    We might prefer a cold room, but a nice hot shower before getting in bed can be helpful too. In a study of both young and elderly people who researchers had take a warm baths before bed found that body movements were less frequent during the first 3 hours of sleep, suggesting an enhancement in sleep quality.

    3. Scale back the caffeine and pre-workout supplements

    The half-life of caffeine, or how long it remains in your body, is around 5-6 hours. If you’re chugging coffees or pre-workout supps before sprints or squats, don’t be surprised if you can’t fall asleep. It might be worth switching over to a morning workout routine or at least nixing the caffeine after 12PM.

    4. Stop having a “night cap” as a sleep aid

    Around 20 percent of American’s use alcohol to help them nod off, but that little buzz could be throwing your circadian rhythm out of sync. In fact, even more moderate use of alcohol has been shown to suppress melatonin production, an important sleep regulating hormone. This doesn’t mean you can’t have a cocktail or beer before bed, just don’t use it as a sleep-aid.

    Related: How to drink alcohol and still build muscle and lose weight

    5. Turn off your phone

    Text message and notification pings are unintentional alarm clocks. That’s obvious. What’s not obvious is the dose of blue light you’re consuming while you mindlessly swipe through your feeds in bed. To the brain and your body, blue light is interpreted as sunlight, and it suppresses melatonin production. Stop confusing your brain into thinking it’s time to go outside and play.  It’s 2AM. Turn your phone off.

    Related: I can’t take a selfie, but my workouts are 20x better now

    6. Turn on the white or pink noise

    Noises at night can be disruptive, but not all noise is same. Similarly to light, noise comes in different colors based on the distribution of the frequencies. White noise is all of the frequencies a human can hear and are equally distributed. Examples of white noise are the static from a TV or steam blowing from a  kettle. Pink noise is common in nature, such as waves on the beach or wind in the tree. A recent study found that white noise effectively masks other environment noises, as a result, improving and maintaining sleep.

    7. Get in a good stretch

    Maybe it’s the stress and tension keeping you up at night. Stretching has been shown to lower our blood pressure and breathing rate. Come on, that’s why you’re feeling so good after yoga class. Take 5-10 minutes for a quick relaxation flow. It doesn’t need to be anything elaborate or extensive, just a few dedicated minutes to focus on moving the muscles and being conscious of your breathing.

    Related: The wind-down routine to do before bed

    8. Start meditating or breathwork

    In order to shut down the body for the night, you need to shut down the mind. Mindfulness meditation has been shown to initiate a relaxation response which provides a reprieve from life’s many stresses. A study found that adults who practiced between 10 and 30 minutes of mindfulness exercise experienced less insomnia, fatigue, and depression after 6 sessions. Read also: How to start a breathwork practice

    9. Quit smoking or other tobacco products

    We don’t need to tell you the horrible side effects of smoking and tobacco use. You’ve seen the images. But there’s more you might not have known about it. A recent study found that smokers experience daytime sleepiness more frequently, get less total sleep, take a longer time falling asleep, and have altered sleep patterns from nonsmokers. Yet again, another reason to quit.

    10. Keep training hard, day or night

    Regular exercise, as you know, has several benefits, and research continues to show its positive effect on fighting depression and anxiety. And less depression and anxiety yields more quality sleep. But are you worried those late-night sessions could be keeping you up? This study of fit athletes suggests that sleep quality is unaffected. (Unless, to our point above, you’re hopped up on caffeine.)

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  • FAQ: What’s the best way to cure sore muscles?

    FAQ: What’s the best way to cure sore muscles?

    Soreness is a part of the game, but it shouldn’t be debilitating, and it doesn’t necessarily mean you had a good workout. You don’t necessarily “cure” sore muscles, but you can alleviate some of the achiness.

    In no particular order:

    1. Active recovery. (movements and activity that’s not overly exhausting) Think of this as simply getting the blood flowing. During exercise or when you’re active, blood carries nutrients to and from muscles to help you perform and recover. While there are instances when you need a complete rest day, most other times should be spent doing light activity. Examples might be a bike ride, walk, hike, or swim. For more on active recovery, see this story: What a rest day actually looks like

    2. Stay well hydrated. Water, like blood, helps carry nutrients to working muscles. It’s also important for balancing electrolytes and supporting joint lubrication. The Food and Nutrition Board recommends 91 oz for women and 125 oz for men daily, but depending on the size of the person, how much they sweat, and how much they train probably will push that number higher.

    3. Make sure you’re eating right. The right foods are critical for building muscle and recovering quickly. Protein is probably the most important in this instance. While carbs and fats are primarily energy sources, protein is primarily for rebuilding muscle. There’s a lot of back and forth within the health and fitness community on how much protein is needed, but we like going with a straight-forward, 1 gram per pound of bodyweight to keep things simple. We also believe that the 50/30/20 ratio (protein to carbs to fat ratio) is the best for body composition goals and maintaining energy levels. Note: this macronutrient protocol could swing significantly in favor of more carbohydrates for distance or endurance athletes.

    4. Sleep. Definitely get sleep. Good quality sleep. Here are our tips on how to improve yours.

    5. Foam roll. A lot of folks like to foam roll before and after their workouts. That’s fine, as long as it’s light enough and short enough to “wake up” the muscles and not overly relax them. We prefer saving the foam rolling for night before bed and focus more on dynamic stretching before workouts and static stretching after workouts. Is that a hard rule? No, but make sure you’re doing all three.

    6. Deep tissue massage. If you can afford it, yeah, this feels good. But then again, can you afford it? If you can’t pay someone to massage you, do myofascial release on yourself; i.e – foam rolling. A lacrosse ball is another good tool to use for getting in tighter spaces in the shoulders and hips.

    7. Stretch. This is pretty much like active recovery or even like foam rolling to an extent. It’s moving the muscles and tendons, helping with blood flow, ultimately helping with recovery. As mentioned above, dynamic stretches before a workout, static stretches after one. Read: how to warm up

    8. Infrared sauna. If you can afford it, or have the time it could help. Research is mixed, but a lot of experts swear by it. We’ve also found it helpful.

    9. Acupuncture. If you can afford it, acupuncture is another with mixed research, but does have the potential to help. We’ve found it to be.

    Sore muscles are normal. It’s going to go through its process. Remember, soreness isn’t necessarily a sign you’re going to build muscle or lose weight. Also remember, if you stop getting sore, that doesn’t mean you won’t see results either. Soreness usually kicks in 24-48 hours after a workout for a particular muscle group or groups. It will come on a little, then peak, then slowly dissipate. When you don’t feel soreness right away, for example, if you did an upper body workout on Monday, but don’t feel sore until Wednesday, that’s called Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, or DOMS for short.

    For a smart training and recovery plan that’s built just for you, check out DigitalFitnessAdvisor.com, our new exclusive programming service.