Sleep is the most crucial aspect of building muscle…

But sadly, most people today don’t prioritize sleep like they should…

In fact, sleep seems to be the last thing that crosses our minds throughout the day isn’t it?

You plan your workouts.

You plan your meals.

But your sleep?

Eh, you’ll just figure it out as you go along…

Guys, that’s the worst strategy you can have if you really want to build muscle…

You need to sleep longer and sleep better if you want to see the biggest gains you can in the gym.

And there are several “sleep disruptors” that are keeping you from doing just that…

So no more laying down on sleep, you need to stand up and knock out those things that are keeping you from getting the best quality of sleep so you can see the biggest amount of muscle growth.

Check out these 5 sleep disruptors that are killing your muscle growth and what to do about it.

Too much Blue Light

How many times have you sat in bed and scrolled through the apps on your phone hoping that some kind of phone fairy dust was going to put you to sleep?

If you’re like a good chunk of people these days, the “phone scroll” bedtime technique has probably become a nighttime ritual for you.

But here’s the problem…

The artificial light—particularly blue light—emitted by electronic screens actually causes your body to produce daytime hormones like cortisol… while you’re trying to sleep…

And as a result, your sleep hormone, melatonin decreases…

Which will make for a sleepless night at worst and a poor quality night of sleep at best – both of which will disrupt muscle growth.

Here are some stats of how looking at your phone, not just before bed, but throughout the day will cause your melatonin to suffer:

1 hour of blue light exposure = 30 minutes of suppressed melatonin

2 hours of blue light exposure = 1 hour of suppressed melatonin

3 hours of blue light exposure = 1.5 hours of suppressed melatonin

Guys, this one’s pretty simple to resolve.

Blue light is a nasty sleep disruptor…

So don’t go towards the light!

Try to stay off of your phone at least two hours before bed. If you need to make a phone call, put it on speaker and flip the screen upside down…

And for more ways to naturally increase your melatonin production and as a result, build more muscle while you sleep, check out my Anabolic Sleeping Program, which give you everything you need to make the most out of your sleep. 

Not Enough Sunlight

This could be partly due to an unhealthy (well, these days, normal) attachment to your phone and other screens…

If you aren’t spending enough time outside, your sleep is going to suffer.

See, human beings have developed a response to the everyday pattern of daytime and nighttime, and as a result your sleep cycle is influenced by the amount of time you spend in the sun…

Meaning that if you spend too little time outside, your sleep will suffer for it.

Sunlight absorbs into your skin and produces serotonin, a neurotransmitter that your body needs to regulate your internal clock.

Later on, that serotonin converts into melatonin, your sleep hormone.

So when you don’t get the sunlight you need, it’s essentially like your 4-year old grabbing your watch and spinning the dial on it at random… your internal clock will be all out of whack.

Get outside more…

Work by a window…

Don’t let a lack of sunlight become the sleep disruptor that puts your muscle growth all out of whack, too.

Caffeine

Don’t worry coffee lovers (which has probably become a niche because we don’t sleep like we should), I’m not telling you to cut caffeine out of your life altogether…

Because caffeine actually has a load of muscle building benefits for you, which I’ve gone into detail about here.

Let me ask you this:

How often have you had a late night cup of coffee?

Or a coffee with dessert?

Or a caffeinated tea to “wind down” with?

Here’s the deal, caffeine consumption doesn’t only become a sleep disruptor if you drink it right before bed like the above scenarios, but studies have shown that caffeine actually has a negative impact on your sleep cycle when you consume it in the afternoon as well.

So I recommend sticking to your morning cup o’ Joe and a pre-workout supplement before a morning workout…

But anything later in the day puts your sleep in harms way.

In my Anabolic Running Program, I’ve got a full, anabolic day planned out for you so that when it’s time to get to sleep, you’ll actually sleep… And build more muscle as a result. Check it out here. 

Room Temperature

Have you ever noticed that late at night your body starts to get a little colder?

I mean, you’ve haven’t touched the thermostat but all of sudden you’re a little chilly…

Well, the reason for this is a process in your body called thermoregulation.

Based on your internal clock, your body begins to lower its body temperature before bed in order to prepare for sleep…

Why?

Because your body likes to be chilly – this is the ideal state for achieving a true muscle-building night’s sleep.

So keep it cool…

Don’t wear heavy clothes to bed.

Replace your thick comforter with a thin layer of bed covers…

And make sure that the temperature in the room is low enough that you don’t sweat or toss and turn looking for the cool side of the pillow while you sleep either.

Mental Chatter

You know those nights where it just seems like there is conversation after conversation, thought after thought jumping around in your mind while you’re trying to sleep?

You’re thinking about what you should have said to this person or what you need to get finished for work next week, or about 100 billion other topics that have finally been able to catch up with you since you didn’t have time to think about them throughout your busy day.

The bottom line is that you don’t need me to tell you that mental chatter is a nasty sleep disruptor…

So here are a few recommendations I have for you…

First of all, check your breathing…

Taking deep breaths and controlling your breathing is a proven way to de-stress.

Deep breathing will lower your cortisol levels and make room for melatonin.

I also recommend a “brain dump.”

Here’s how you do it…

Get out a sheet of paper and a pen and write down everything that’s on your mind about an hour before you go to bed: Important dates that you need to remember, the name of somebody you met at the gym, really anything to keep your mind from subconsciously trying to hang onto these things and as a result, keep you awake.

Then, your mind won’t have much to chatter about when it’s finally time for you to get a good, muscle-building quality of sleep.

Your Next Step

So there you have 5 sleep disruptors that are killing your muscle growth…

And those are only a few of them…

I have more sleep disruptors in my Anabolic Sleeping Program as well as the keys to building muscle while you sleep, the perfect bedroom setup for optimal, anabolic sleep and more.

It’s a program I designed to help you get the most out of your sleep.

If want to build your best muscle in the shortest amount of time, make sleep a priority. Check out Anabolic Sleeping here.

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