The Importance of Sleep for Optimal Testosterone Production

[Simpsy]

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^I also get groggy if I over sleep, so that could be it

But if I'm sleeping all night (apart from at the minute, mrs. is really poorly and keeps on getting up ) and still needing an alarm do you reckon I'm still over sleeping? I got up earlier this morning (got about 8 hrs last night) an d still felt the same, will it just take time?

[Frankie]

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What are you trying to do, burn calories in your sleep?

I must be! The girlfriend says I'm up quite a lot in the night doing random stuff. I was thinking I could be deficient in something but have found anything good on the internet.

[Simpsy]

I think sleep walking might be different things in different people. Me best mate sleep walks if he's had a lot to drink and is very tired (got a few funny stories from holidays, haha) but a different mate's sister did when she was younger and that wasn't off the lash. Must be different things in different people. Mebbes worth going to see your doctor if you're doing crazy things? Like, that girl once went wandering off out the caravan in the middle of the night, owt coulda happened...

[Frankie]

Yeah I get much worse when I'm stressed, normally I'm quite relaxed but sometimes let work related stuff get on top.


Also I think heat and booze starts it off too.

Not very keen on seeing a doctor but might mention it next time I have to go see one for some reason

[musefan]

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The Importance of Sleep for Optimal Testosterone Production
Written by Robbie Durand
Wednesday, 18 February 2009

Sleep is commonly viewed as a restorative process that influences the nervous, neuroendocrine and immune systems. Sleep is considered critical for the maintenance of health; abnormal sleep patterns are associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease, mood disorders, chronic pain and a shortened lifespan.11 In a lot of ways, sleep is like sex— you can never get too much of it. In addition, sleep is a lot like your boss when he’s working...don’t disturb him or he gets pissed. Well, your body is the same way— don’t disturb its sleep or he will take it out on you.

The Consequences of No Sleep

All bodybuilders know that getting eight to 10 hours of sleep a night is important for training recuperation, but this guideline is often neglected. Who the hell has time for eight to 10 hours of sleep anymore? People have chaotic work deadlines, kids, a social life and hitting it hard in the gym. Sleep is the one thing bodybuilders (or anyone else for that matter) will sacrifice to get a few more things done. As stated earlier, not getting the right amount of sleep will cause harmful effects on glucose tolerance, GH secretion and lower immune parameters, as well as increasing cortisol and adrenaline.1,2

A 1999 study in The Lancet reported that when healthy young men had four hours of sleep for six nights, it resulted in a harmful impact on carbohydrate metabolism and endocrine function. Subjects experienced an increase in insulin resistance and reduced thyroid levels. In addition, evening cortisol and increased sympathetic activity of the nervous system was also reported.18 Other studies have documented that sleep deprivation doesn’t give the nervous system a chance to rest and results in elevated adrenaline levels. One study demonstrated that subjects exposed to sleep deprivation (i.e., 3.3 hours of sleep) resulted in a significant elevation in circulating levels of norepinephrine and epinephrine during the night.15 Circulating catecholamines are normally supposed to decline with sleep.

Another less well-known hormone identified as increasing during sleep is prolactin. Now don’t freak out, you’re not going to start squirting milk out of your nipples like a breastfeeding mother, but circulating levels of prolactin rise during the night with sleep. There’s a linkage between GH and prolactin secretion during non-REM sleep in humans. Prolactin and GH share 40 percent of the same protein sequence. Prolactin is secreted in the anterior portion of the brain, but is also synthesized and secreted by a broad range of other cells in the body, including various immune cells. It’s interesting that sleep deprivation reduces nightly prolactin levels, which may explain why there’s reduced immune functionality with sleep loss. Mice that are made genetically deficient in prolactin are immunocompromised to which sleep loss shares a resemblance.12 Prolactin has also been shown to be a regulator of testosterone. When men were given the anti-depressant drug, haloperidol (which lowers dopamine, but results in an increased release of the prolactin), the resulting significant increase in prolactin corresponded with a significant increase in testosterone 60 minutes later. In the same study, the control group’s mean testosterone levels showed the normal decline during daytime hours. This delay between increased prolactin and increased testosterone is consistent with a similar delay between the increases of these two hormones occurring at night during sleep.13


As you know, GH is supposed to rise during the night, but sleep deprivation resulted in an attenuation of GH that doesn’t rise until after sleep onset. In addition, cortisol was significantly elevated the next day, as well as catecholamines.9 If that’s not the kiss of death for maintaining an anabolic state I don’t know what is. Sleep is also critical for testosterone regulation and lack of sleep can lower testosterone levels; the total time sleeping is an important regulator as well.4

A recent study by Axelsson et al.4 examined what the most important factor regulating testosterone production during sleep was— circadian rhythms (a daily cycle of rhythmic activity based on 24-hour intervals, observed in many organisms— including us!) or total sleep. The researchers looked at traditional day workers who slept at night as well as people who worked the nightshift and slept during the day. Results of the study found that the time of day or night when the workers slept didn’t affect testosterone levels. The most important finding of the study determined that total sleep, rather than circadian rhythms, was critical for testosterone regulation. The study suggests with respect to testosterone function, that there’s a linear increase in testosterone across the sleep cycle suggesting that sleep length is critical for testosterone levels. It seems that sleep can be added to the list of factors affecting testosterone levels in addition to training level, diet and age. So the next time your boss walks in on you sleeping on the job tell him to “F**K OFF” you’re trying to get big!!

Testosterone, Circadian Rhythms and Sleep

Testosterone follows circadian rhythms or patterns during sleep. Testosterone levels increase during sleep and peak about the time of wakening in men and slowly decrease during the day.5 Interestingly the diurnal rhythm of testosterone already exists before puberty starts. One study investigated the effect of the testosterone circadian rhythm both before and after puberty. Thirty-two prepubertal and 14 pubertal boys between the ages of five and 19 years of age were studied. Diurnal rhythms of LH, FSH and testosterone were apparent in all subjects, including those aged five years old, however the average 24-hour LH and testosterone concentrations were much greater with those developing puberty.10 Testosterone levels peak at around 8 a.m. and are at their lowest around 8 p.m.6 It’s been reported that in young men, the sleep-related rise in testosterone has been linked to the first episode of rapid eye movement (REM).5 REM sleep is an active period marked by intense activity in the brain and rapid bursts of eye movements. At the same time, REM sleep is when dreaming occurs. The stimulus for testosterone production is regulated by gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), which then stimulates leutinizing hormone (LH) production from the hypothalamus (see figure 1).
During sleep, episodic bursts of LH drive testosterone production in men. The frequency and amplitude of these pulses are essential for appropriate testosterone production. There’s generally a 40-minute lag time from when the first burst of LH is secreted to stimulation of testosterone production.7 So, now you understand that during normal sleep there are episodic pulses of LH-stimulating testosterone production, however when sleep is disrupted, the circadian rhythm of testosterone is disrupted as well.

Partying Without Sleep Is Bad for Testosterone

Who the hell wants to stay home at night when you could be dancing with some hot MILF at the club?! Well, while you’re trying to “score,” the loss of sleep can be detrimental to your testosterone levels. Schiavi et al.8 reported that in a group of healthy young men, sleep deprivation causes decreases in sleep quality and REM episodes, which were associated with lower bioavailable testosterone levels, regardless of one’s age. Every bodybuilder knows he should be getting eight to 10 hours of sleep a night, but most of us take it with a grain of salt.

A single night of disrupted sleep can really take its toll on your testosterone levels. For example, when young men were exposed to a night of partial sleep loss, it resulted in a blunted testosterone response during the night. In that study when men were allowed to get a full eight hours of continuous sleep, all subjects had a nocturnal rise in testosterone. When the same subjects were allowed two hours of sleep, none of the subjects without REM sleep showed any rise in testosterone during the night.5

Another study examined testosterone levels of internal resident students in medical school. As you know, internal medical students work all hours of the night and don’t get much sleep. When the serum testosterone levels of the medical student residents were compared to other hospital personnel, the LH responses were similar, but the internal medicine residents demonstrated subnormal testosterone levels.14 Just about any occupation that doesn’t allow a good night’s sleep is going to impair testosterone production, which is especially true for new shift workers.

I guess I should be in bed now lol Good article!!

[~ flipd ~]

I'm a Terrible Sleeper - in that i Sleep Very Little. It Can Take me Hours to Drift Off, sometimes i just watch the Clock for the Entire Night - & that is MASSIVELY Frustrating!

It Definitely effects my ability to Train - i'm too Often so exhausted that i can't motivate myself to go Train - & that leads to further feelings of frustration & a sort of Guilt i suppose.

I have an Under-Active Thyroid - Which causes me to feel tired anyway - i'm Medicated with Thyroxine Supplements but the tiredness persists.

I Have to Rise early for Work - 05:15 Out of Bed - & i'm lucky if i get 3-4 Hours Shut-Eye a Day. It's Definitely Impacting me Negatively, & it's been this Way for Years.

I Always feel exhausted, usually more often Mentally than Physically - With HeadAches, & my Eyes Hurt - but even in this State i still struggle to get to Sleep.

Remedies?

D.

[polky]

My problem is too much sleep!
I'm currently a student and have long since stopped going to lectures. This means I end up sleeping about 10-12 hours a night (I know I shouldn't complain!)

The problem is that although it's lovely being in bed, when I get up I tend to be quite tired during the day and have to hit a fair amount of guarana extract and caffeine pills to get motivated.

Is there such thing as oversleeping and is my five day a week gym habit adding to my fatigue?

Cheers

Also: Was wondering what people's opinions on Taurine before bed are. It's meant to be a neurotransmitter and therefore aid healthy and restful sleep. I've tried it and... well I slept. Its so hard to tell if its a placebo effect but did feel a bit better in the morning... Anyone else tried it?

[polky]

Can a mod please delete my above post.... I now realise I sound like a total git!