Zs And Riding'S Abcs

We all love a good nights sleep, and getting out of bed in the mornings to train can be a hard task. Good news for those who love their Zzz's as much as their time on the saddle, effective training and more time in bed have been proven to go hand in hand.

GLYCOGEN STORES

Glycogen is stored carbohydrates that one's body uses as fuel for energy when working hard. When cycling, one's muscles and body depends on glycogen reserves or stores to keep their energy up.

Sleep deprivation withholds one's muscles from getting this much needed fuel source. Studies show that prolonged sleep deprivation dulls one's insulin response by 30 percent, which restricts one's body's ability to restore it's muscle glycogen supply. This causes one's muscle functions to suffer, particularly while training at higher intensities.

HGH PRODUCTION

The Human Growth Hormone (HGH) is known for it's ability to enhance one's performance. This hormone is responsible for strengthening muscles while effectively burning body fat and stimulating tissue growth, thereby helping recover faster.

However, HGH production depends on sleep. The body requires 7 to 9 hours of sleep to be able to produce this hormone, lack of sufficient sleep results in the shutting down of it's production.

Research shows that when it comes to HGH production, you need as much sleep as you can get in the first half of the night, i.e. between 10pm and 1am. HGH production reduces with age, so it is very important that older athletes go to bed at a reasonable hour in order to maximize the benefits of the HGH.

SLOWER REACTION TIME

One of the first things to slow down when one dismisses the necessity of proper sleep is their reaction time. Just a few hours of sleep restriction over the course of a week significantly increases reaction time and decreases attention. This is also crucial for cyclists who regularly descend mountains at high speeds, ride within inches of each other, and need to keep their wits about them.

INCREASED STRESS LEVELS

Sleep deprivation is physically stressful on one's body, which can cause one's levels of stress hormones, like cortisol, to remain elevated deep into the evening hours, when they normally decline. Studies found that cortisol levels declined six times more slowly in people who had little sleep than those who were fully rested. Elevated cortisol can interfere with one's recovery by hindering tissue repair and growth. It also builds a path toward insulin resistance, fat storage, over training, and injury.

QUICK TO TIRE

This might seem like a no-brainer, but lack of sleep makes one tired on the bicycle as well as off it. An endurance study showed an 11-percent drop in performance following 36 hours of sleep deprivation. Other studies echo these findings, showing that sleep-deprived men and women experience a shorter time to exhaustion and harder perceived effort