Altering my sleep schedule; Good idea or Bad?

[Production6257]

I am finally beginning to accept the fact that I am an insomniac, and there isn't much that I can do to change it. I have tried sleeping pills, anxiety meds etc, and I just can not go to bed before 1 in the morning. Also, I have a huge problem with waking up before 11AM. It must just be some kind of mental thing where my mind can't rest at night until I know that everyone else is asleep.

Well, anyway, I just got the bright idea that, instead of fighting it, maybe I should just roll with it and accept the times that my body wants to sleep/wake up. When I think about it, late at night is actually the time that I feel most relaxed and do my best thinking. So I am considering just making my bedtime around 2:30AM, and setting my alarm for 10:45AM for the summer. I'm only working twice a week, and my shifts are from 3-11PM, so it won't interfere. I am thinking that this will help me get a better sleep schedule and help with my eating so I make sure that I get a solid 6 meals in that period. But something about this seems too good to be true. Are there any downfalls to this? Almost every bodybuilder I see has a basic, waking up early and going to bed before 11 schedule. I just feel like this could be my best hope of getting the gains I want this summer.

 

[Zerix]

Funny, I've lately been goin around 1 and waking up around 11. I just like staying up late.

 

[blinkwatt]

Dude you could get away with only 6+ hours,don't fret it. My hours at work vary greatly so my sleeping pattern changes constantly,it hasn't affected my lifting one bit. Most of the time I sleep at the same times that you due,for the same reasons, a retarded work schedule.

By the way,one of my lifting buddies(bodybuilder) has two kids and he says he only get 4-7 hours a night and trust me,from what I've seen and he says it doesn't effect him one bit.

Just focus on lifting consistently and eating right and you'll be cool.

 

[Production6257]

Interesting blinkwatt. Do you sleep more on workout days though? I constantly hear that a bodybuilder's body needs at least 8-9 hours of sleep to fully recover. Many say that it is just as important as nutrition and lifting. But I'm a kinesiology major, and I have heard all kinds of contradictory things from my professors, textbooks, and just info in general. My body is pretty weird though. Like today, for instance. I went to bed at 2:45AM, then I naturally woke up at 9:30 and didn't feel tired at all and had to force myself to sleep for a couple more hours, then once my alarm went off I was tired again and pushed the snooze button like 5 times before finally getting up. It's most likely all in my head.

Here's another concern of mine: I also worry about getting too much sleep. Because if I sleep for 10-12 hours, then that is a full half of a day that my body isn't getting any food. What if I put a muscle milk shake in my fridge, set my alarm for like 6 hours into my sleep, then get up, drink it, and go back to bed? Then again it would be tough getting back to sleep with 650 calories to be digested in my stomach. Eh, I'm just running through all kinds of ideas right now.

 

[mrRuckus]

Dude you could get away with only 6+ hours,don't fret it. My hours at work vary greatly so my sleeping pattern changes constantly,it hasn't affected my lifting one bit. Most of the time I sleep at the same times that you due,for the same reasons, a retarded work schedule.

By the way,one of my lifting buddies(bodybuilder) has two kids and he says he only get 4-7 hours a night and trust me,from what I've seen and he says it doesn't effect him one bit.

How do you know it hasn't affected your lifting? You don't.

 

[blinkwatt]

How do you know it hasn't affected your lifting? You don't.

Considering that when I was out of college and only going to work & the gym,I slept 8-10 hours a night compared to the 6+ I get now with work,gym & school I think I have learned that it doesn't affect me. I'm stronger,leaner and look better now then ever.

 

[blinkwatt]

Do you sleep more on workout days though?

Nope. I workout 6 days a week so I only have 1 off day and I still only get 6+ a night.

I constantly hear that a bodybuilder's body needs at least 8-9 hours of sleep to fully recover.

Yeah alot of people talk when it comes to bodybuilding and lifting,it's up yo you to find out what works for yourself.

Many say that it is just as important as nutrition and lifting.

Personally I have found that it's last on the list.

Like today, for instance. I went to bed at 2:45AM, then I naturally woke up at 9:30 and didn't feel tired at all and had to force myself to sleep for a couple more hours, then once my alarm went off I was tired again and pushed the snooze button like 5 times before finally getting up. It's most likely all in my head.

Exactly,most of this stuff is all in your head.


Here's another concern of mine: I also worry about getting too much sleep. Because if I sleep for 10-12 hours, then that is a full half of a day that my body isn't getting any food. What if I put a muscle milk shake in my fridge, set my alarm for like 6 hours into my sleep, then get up, drink it, and go back to bed? Then again it would be tough getting back to sleep with 650 calories to be digested in my stomach. Eh, I'm just running through all kinds of ideas right now.

Dude just relax and focus on your eating and lifting and you will be fine. Today I only slept 7 hour but my brother woke me up like 3 times because he wouldn't lower his damn video games.

Good Luck,you'll be fine!

 

[Zerix]

I went to bed at 2:45AM, then I naturally woke up at 9:30 and didn't feel tired at all and had to force myself to sleep for a couple more hours

Bad move.

 

[Charm]

Biopsychology by Dr J.P.J. Pinel. Ran an experiment to find optimum levels of sleep for functioning, he got 5.5 hours, of course he wasnt doing 5 hours of CV and 5 hours of weights a week though!

The body grows and repairs itself while sleeping, so unless you thnk you have a superhuman metabolism andd can repair yourself in 4 hours what normally can only be done in 9, then hey go for it and party to the fact you're only getting half the results you normally would. Google for studies linking sleep vs fat loss or muscle gain.

Hint: Just because your brain may work fine on 5 hours of sleep does in no way shape or form mean that your muscles are happy on the same amount.

However, You'll grow less by not going to the gym then you will by going to the gym and only sleeping 4 hours.

Here's a study: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=9226606&dopt=Abstract

Check out "Powerful Sleep" by Kacper Postawski. It's a really good ebook on sleep.

 

[blinkwatt]

The body grows and repairs itself while sleeping, so unless you thnk you have a superhuman metabolism andd can repair yourself in 4 hours what normally can only be done in 9, then hey go for it and party to the fact you're only getting half the results you normally would. Google for studies linking sleep vs fat loss or muscle gain.

The moments that you stop lifting weights or aren't doing anything your body is repairing. Have you ever noticed that some morning you can be extremely sore and as long as you eat throughout the day,by the end of night you could be alot less sore?

 

[Charm]

The moments that you stop lifting weights or aren't doing anything your body is repairing. Have you ever noticed that some morning you can be extremely sore and as long as you eat throughout the day,by the end of night you could be alot less sore?

Yes but when you're not sleeping are you meditating? If not, you are probably actively moving around and burning calories and tearing down muscles all day long. Sleep is the optimal time for repair and growth because of the minimal physical activity.

 

[blinkwatt]

Sleep is the optimal time for repair and growth because of the minimal physical activity.

I agree with you there but people put too much into sleeping. There is a lot of stuff that you can get done in those 2-3 extra hours a night(compared to my 6+/night) that people are sleeping,and for what,to repair their muscles? That's none sense, if you eat right you can actually notice a huge difference in muscle repair just while you are awake.

Think about it those 2-3 hours extra that you try to sleep equals 14-21 hours a week,64-84 hours a month. You can get a lot done with that extra time.

For me personally(& my lifting buddies who are all bigger more muscular,leaner and older) we have all found out that people put too much emphasis on sleeping and while it's nice,it's not everything.

To each their own.

 

[Quiksilver]

Originally posted by hammahamma
Then again it would be tough getting back to sleep with 650 calories to be digested in my stomach.

On the contrary.

 

[mrRuckus]

Considering that when I was out of college and only going to work & the gym,I slept 8-10 hours a night compared to the 6+ I get now with work,gym & school I think I have learned that it doesn't affect me. I'm stronger,leaner and look better now then ever.

Why were you sleeping 8-10 hours if you're not tired at 6? If you are tired at 6 why are you tired if you're perfectly recovered? Nature hasn't a clue what it's doing?

You're still not demonstrating that sleeping longer would not net you faster gains. This is the same as the anti-protein people claiming "but i make gains now!" neglecting that they could quite possibly make much better gains.

Personally i'm fvcking amazed at you and your friends who don't need to do anything at all and you're all monstrously huge and lean because you sure do bring them all up as the exceptions to all the generally accepted science to health matters in every thread you post in. For you and your friends to all be statistical outliers all at once in all categories is super!

 

[Throttle]

sleeping with the sun (appx. 7 or 9pm til 5 or 7am) is clearly what we humans evolved on, and lived by until widespread electrification, though few of us manage to do so anymore.

I feel best & sleep best on a more natural sleep schedule, say 11pm til 7:30am. There's nothing magic about 8 hrs/night, but dropping below appx 7 hrs. throws off your hormones, so that you're whacking your body with extra cortisol & insulin at all the wrong times.

Don't worry about your muscles shrinking as long as you're getting some long-digesting protein & fat before bed (muscle milk is inappropriate at bedtime). Though some guys set an alarm to chug protein in the middle of their sleep, this messes with your sleep cycle unless you naturally wake up around 3am & can go right back to sleep w/o trouble.

If you wake up early and can't go back to sleep, don't try, and don't take any naps longer than 20/30 minutes during the day. Simply go to bed a little earlier that night and wake up naturally. Never force yourself to sleep, and if you can't fall asleep at night, trade stimulating activities before bed (TV, computer, etc.) for activities that will wear you out (reading, etc. -- I'm sure you can think of others)

Caffeine screws with sleep cycles. It's smart to give it up in the evening, but if you mega-dose, you might want to slowly cut back AND set a cutoff time.

This is my advice, from experience, though that's not to say that I always live it out. But I'm happier & feel healthier when I do.

BW>> your attitude of sleep-is-a-waste-of-time may work fine for you, but it would also suggest that meditation is a waste of time. This is not true for me.

Also, when I am super active (say, chasing after 7-17 year olds at camp, or loading stock onto massive printers) all day, I sleep even more, on the order of 9 or 10 hours, without even trying. It's when I'm completely sedentary that I can get away with much less--and also my sleep schedule slips continually deeper into the wee hours of the morning, until I'm wondering why it's 5am & I still can't go to sleep. I feel healthier doing the former than the latter.

 

[dot]

http://www.home-remedies-for-you.com/remedy/Insomnia.html

 

[blinkwatt]

Why were you sleeping 8-10 hours if you're not tired at 6? If you are tired at 6 why are you tired if you're perfectly recovered? Nature hasn't a clue what it's doing?

I'm not sure what your saying there,but I'm not tired at 6+ hours and if I happen to be I take a nap during the day,only for like 15-20 minutes though.

You're still not demonstrating that sleeping longer would not net you faster gains. This is the same as the anti-protein people claiming "but i make gains now!" neglecting that they could quite possibly make much better gains.

Yes I can't prove to you if it's better or not but you have to believe me.
I only post out of what I know from my own trial and error.

Personally i'm fvcking amazed at you and your friends who don't need to do anything at all and you're all monstrously huge and lean because you sure do bring them all up as the exceptions to all the generally accepted science to health matters in every thread you post in.

Just look around your gym,look at the guys saying they on are on 'x' or 'y' plan,now look at their build. Find the guys who carry a paper w/ a program from Muscle Fitness and such,look at their build,is that what you want?
All of the people that I notice trying to make this stuff harder then it is are the ones who get lost in the technical aspect. They forget that the nutrition aspect is more important then actually lifting.

For you and your friends to all be statistical outliers all at once in all categories is super!

Who said that? All I'm saying is that through my and others' personal experiences that sleep is overrated when it comes to weight lifting.

I know the way I eat,lift & sleep may sound weird or nuts to others,heck I was even critical of it to when I first started living this way. It's worked and keeps working.

 

[donjuanjovi]

Maybe you should look up what insomnia is before you diagnose yourself as an insomniac. Insomniacs do NOT get 10 hours of sleep.

If you start waking up at 6 or 7 in the morning I'll bet the farm you'll be asleep before 1 AM. But if you feel alright with waking up around noon than do it.

 

[Throttle]

Insomniacs do NOT get 10 hours of sleep.

bull****. there are lots of reasons why someone might overestimate the actual amount of sleep (studies show that generally, we do), and you could definitely be an insomniac if very few (if any) of those 10 hours are quality sleep.

For one example, sleep apnea can cause you to get little, if any quality sleep. This produces daytime exhaustion (and a propensity for napping) but an inability to get to sleep at night (your body's clock never resets properly).

Maybe you should look up what insomnia is before you diagnose yourself as an insomniac.

this of course is sound advice. but see the wikipedia article (for just one example) and compare to your quote above.

 

[donjuanjovi]

bull****. there are lots of reasons why someone might overestimate the actual amount of sleep (studies show that generally, we do), and you could definitely be an insomniac if very few (if any) of those 10 hours are quality sleep.

For one example, sleep apnea can cause you to get little, if any quality sleep. This produces daytime exhaustion (and a propensity for napping) but an inability to get to sleep at night (your body's clock never resets properly).

The original poster had no problem sleeping, but just getting to sleep before 1 AM. If he was an insomniac, it would be disturbed sleep, which he never complained about.

Sleep apnea is a breathing problem and, if I'm not mistaken, not considered a form of insomnia.