Tip Increase the Quality of Your Sleep Search Skip to content Menu Menu follow us Store Articles Community Loyal-T Club Loyal-T Points Rewards Subscribe to Save Search Search The World s Trusted Source & Community for Elite Fitness EatingSupplements Tip Increase the Quality of Your Sleep How to sleep more sleep better fight cortisol and boost natural GH by Mike Roussell, PhD March 17, 2016April 5, 2021 Tags Calm Down & Sleep, GABA, Nutrition & Supplements, Tips Lack of sleep and poor sleep quality greatly affects your health and your body's ability to deal with stress. While eight hours is commonly touted as the recommended amount of sleep we should be getting, it may be the quality of your sleep that's more important than the quantity. So, if you can't always get eight hours make sure what you do get is very restful. It's been shown that hard training athletes have sleep disturbances in part related to higher nighttime epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine concentrations. Drinking decaffeinated green tea before bed may help combat increased norepinephrine levels. 3 Ingredients for Better Sleep The next level after green tea is a powerful supplement called Z-12 which contains three anxiety-reducing, sleep-inducing ingredients: 4-Amino-3-Phenyl-Butanoic Acid HCl (PhGABA) L-Theanine (yep, the same good stuff found in green tea) 5-Hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) Two capsules is just enough to knock me out until morning with no drowsiness upon waking. This is one of the few supplements that works for my clients the first time they take it. In addition to the aftereffects of poor sleep, getting quality deep sleep is also important for what happens hormonally during the course of the night. While engaged in periods of deep sleep, your body's cortisol secretions are decreased while growth hormone levels rise. A simple way to optimize sleep for muscle growth? Just get to bed earlier. Turn off the TV, shutdown your computer, make sure your room is completely dark, and try to string together fourteen nights of high-quality sleep to get your body back on track. Get The T Nation Newsletters Don' t Miss Out Expert Insights To Get Stronger, Gain Muscle Faster, And Take Your Lifting To The Next Level related posts Supplements Tip Metabolic Brownies – The Best Recipe Ever This high-protein dessert is great for cutting phases, and still delicious even if you're not cutting. Here's the easy recipe. Nutrition & Supplements, Performance Proteins, Protein, Recipes, Tips Dani Shugart March 11 Eating Natural Toxins in Fruits & Vegetables The Truth Some diet experts and influencers avoid vegetables and fruits because of the natural toxins they contain. Should you? Get the facts here. Dietary Myth Busting, Nutrition & Supplements TC Luoma September 1 Supplements Mark Dugdale Doubles Training Hungry for More "It used to take me five days to recover from a hard workout. Now, I'm able to train seven days a week, and chomping at the bit to hit legs twice." Promoted, Sponsored Stories Biotest March 7 Supplements The Natural Chemical That Turns You Super Human How to improve body composition, overall health, and even your workouts... naturally. TC Luoma June 22