How well are you sleeping? Are you getting the recommended seven to nine hours a night? If you don’t, then read on there are some things that you may not know (if you do sleep that much then maybe you should be writing for us). Nearly one third of Americans sleep six hours or less a night, and while there is no shortage of documentation available to explore the side effects of not enough sleep (here, here, and here for instance), those of us that are in the world of fitness may be ignoring a big one; Testosterone.
Testosterone is king! We all know that, which is why Driven Sports makes two of the best testosterone boosters on the market (Activate Xtreme and Triazole). Testosterone plays such a key role in those looking to build muscle and strength that it goes without question that it factors into your supplementation routine (you can read more about that on both product pages). But something that many lifters fail to consider is the impact that your lifestyle has on testosterone; specifically sleep.
Lack of healthy sleeping habits decrease testosterone levels. In one study after one week of restricting sleep to five hours a night, the subjects’ testosterone levels dropped 10-15%. That is not an insignificant amount, and what is more alarming is that the effects were seen after only one week of restricted sleep. How many of us get only five hours of sleep every night for months on end? Imagine the damage we are doing to our testosterone levels over time with this type of behavior?
There is some good news though; there are many ways to improve sleep habits. You could avoid stimulants later in the day, you could avoid stimulating activities (turn off the technology or at least put on the blue light filter), you could meditate, read a book; all pre-bed activities that may help. The number one cause of sleepless nights is anxiety. This is a much tougher challenge, but there are many calming techniques out there (and if you need some supplemental help with that, we have you covered).
You have to improve your sleep habits, it is too crucial to your overall health and your physical fitness to ignore. While you are working on that, you may want to consider taking a supplement that could increase your testosterone levels to attempt to undo some of the damage already done. If you are looking for a place to start for that, well, you are already here.