davids0507

Well, here I am again at the synchrotron for another 32-hour physics experiment, and I started wondering, how well does the body repair itself if you don't get much sleep? If I ride for a couple hours on Friday, stay awake until midday Saturday, sleep for a couple hours, then stay awake until Sunday morning, is there a net benefit to fitness from the Friday ride or is the lack of sleep preventing the muscles from regenerating? I decided long ago that I would ride when I felt like it in these sorts of situations simply for mental health purposes, but if anyone with crazy work schedules would like to chime in with their thoughts, feel free to do so.

Matt2.8NJ

I am useless on no sleep. That having been said, you will need to know your own body, and go on feel. Some people can go out drinking and go race the next morning on no sleep.

Addressing your crazy schedule: Last summer when my son was born, I got no quality sleep for 2 months, and my training and racing went downhill fast. As soon as I started getting rest, the results improved. YMMV.

kindablue

Your body physiology requires sleep to recover. Friel's book even emphasizes naps. You may make training gains, but not as much as you would if you were rested.

veloboy971

Well I haven't done no sleep before but last spring a combination of dorm living and a busy schedule left me with no more than 5-6 hours of sleep a night. While I was still able to train and race, I know my performance was no where near its potential and my recovery was definitely not good at all. As soon as I went back home in the summer I noticed I could train longer, harder, and take less time to recover. While it probably has to do with better food at home I know it also had to do with the fact that I was getting 8+ hours of sleep per night. This year living in an appt, the least amount of sleep I get is ~7 hr per night and I haven't noticed any decrease in performance or increase in recovery time.

carleton

If you get a power meter you can quantify the differences that sleep vs no sleep make.

I once drove 12+ hours to race an event. I left work, then drove 12 hours all night, got to the city, and was only able to get about 4 hours of restless sleep before I had to be on the track for a morning training session. I did similar efforts that I've done several times, but max and average wattage were consistently lower by over 20%. I felt like crap. Felt like I was training while hung-over. I got a full night's sleep that night was was back up to 100% the next day to race the event.

383

Growth hormone is released virtually only when you are sleeping.

Creakyknees

This is also my understanding - and more particularly, most of the hormone is released during (immediately prior to?) the initial phase of REM sleep. So if you take a short nap, you might feela bit more rested but you probably missed the hgh release window.