The Golden Rules of Sleep

Along with exercise and proper nutrition, sleep is essential to your training program. Follow these rules to stay healthy and energized and to encourage muscle growth:

Rule 1: Sleep 9 hours uninterrupted per night. (Including weekends)
Rule 2: Establish a routine. Set up your pre-bed routine and be in bed around the same time every night.
Rule 3: Build a sleep chamber devoid of light, noise and other distractions (2 year-olds). The best sleeping environment is a quiet, dark, and cool room.
Rule 4: Catch up on lost sleep. Don’t build up a deficit.
Rule 5: Train hard every week. Take rest days and weeks as needed.
Rule 6: Eat zone-ish. Balancing blood sugar/insulin levels helps you to fall asleep and stay asleep. You will also get more recuperation out of the same amount of sleep time.
Rule 7: Stay well-hydrated.
Rule 8: Read Lights Out: Sleep, sugar, and survival.
Rule 9: Relax before you retire. Do some basic joint mobility work or stretching to help you relax.
Rule 10: Create a sleep journal. Document the quality and quantity of your sleep so you can see what is working and what is not.

written by: Troy Dodson