Secrets to the Dreamiest, Deepest, Muscle-Building Sleep You've Never Had

The quality of your sleep can make a huge difference in your hormonal profile, as most of our testosterone and HGH (Human Growth Hormone) is produced during the REM stages of our sleep cycles. Most of this will resonate primarily with men, but the benefits are definitely not limited to men only. Women should obviously ignore the test-boosting parts.

The optimal amount of sleep for a man is 6-8 hours every single night, but the fact is you can sleep for 8 hours and still wake up feeling like shit.

That's because quality matters! It's not always the hours, it's the sleep itself that makes the difference.

There are a few key points to amazing sleep quality that can be easily used: certain supplements, along with really easy, free tips and tricks. In this post I'll cover the most important ones.

01Sleep in a Completely Dark Room

By this I don't mean that you just shut the lights and that's it. The latest research has clearly shown that even a little LED light in the corner of your room, one that might not even be visible to your eyes, can still lower your melatonin (sleep hormone) production significantly. You can always put some black tape over those LED lights. A very easy thing to do for a natural boost in melatonin.

02Turn Off Your Mobile Network

If you sleep next to your phone or use it as an alarm clock, you might not be able to shut it down completely. Instead, put it on airplane mode or just block the mobile network. The reason those networks should be blocked is that your pineal gland, which regulates the production of melatonin, can get disturbed by wireless signals, which then leads to low melatonin, lower HGH release, and lower testosterone release.

03Go to Bed Early

I know you've heard this one from your momma, but she was right. Humans were designed to go to bed right after sundown, as our adrenal system recharges itself between the hours of 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. This was never even a problem before electronics, which are the main reason people stay up all night these days.

04Consume High-Quality Protein Before Bed

To maximize your melatonin and HGH production, snack on some high-quality amino acids before you hit the sack. This provides your body with the growth-enhancing proteins and L-tryptophan that boost your melatonin and make it easier to fall asleep. I always fuel my muscle regrowth with a healthy protein shake at night.

05Avoid Grains and Sugars Before Bed

All kinds of grains and sugars raise your blood sugar levels, which can lead to hypoglycemia when your blood sugar crashes later in the night. That crash wakes you up, and after that it's really hard to fall asleep again. You don't want carbs to lay down on anyway. You want lean protein.

06Exercise

Research indicates that when you exercise at least 30 minutes per day, your sleep quality improves dramatically. Just try to limit exercise right before bedtime, because it can hamper your ability to fall asleep. I remember clearly when I started lifting just a few short years ago, my friend Josh and I would crush it at 9, 10 or 11 p.m. and then gorge on fueling food, but I was too jacked out of my mind from all that intensity and couldn't sleep!

07Supplement With Melatonin

Melatonin can be purchased as a natural supplement, and I would go as far as saying it is by far one of the coolest undercover testosterone boosters, since it's not usually used for that purpose. When you maximize your natural melatonin production and on top of that supplement with natural melatonin, your sleep quality will drastically improve, which leads to a huge increase in testosterone production during the night.

08Keep Your Room Cold

One major mistake people make is sleeping in rooms that are too hot. This has two negative effects on your body. 1) Men's testes produce less testosterone when they are overheated. 2) A cool room mimics the body's natural sleeping habitat. We were never meant to sleep in heated buildings. Naturally, we would still sleep outside.

09Wear Socks

One study noted that when subjects wore socks, their sleep quality improved. This likely has something to do with the poor circulation of the feet during sleep, which improves when you wear socks that keep your feet warm.

10Sleep Naked

When you sleep naked, your testicles won't be pressed up against underwear, which makes it easier to keep them at the optimal temperature for testosterone production (a little cooler than normal body temperature). Your circulation will also improve, which helps your body produce testosterone.

11Don't Watch TV Right Before Bed

This can be a hard one, especially if you have a TV in your bedroom, but the harsh fact is that watching TV hampers your pineal gland's ability to produce melatonin for hours afterward. This one was really hard for me, as I had developed a habit of watching late-night Netflix or drifting off with a movie playing. Thanks, Dad... learned it from you.

12Supplement With Magnesium / Ashwagandha

Magnesium is a mineral that really relaxes your muscles and primes your body for sleep, as it regulates thousands of bodily functions during your sleep. Ashwagandha has been linked to better sleep quality, and from my own personal experience, Ashwagandha does what it's being told to.

13Skip the Sleeping Pills

Sleeping pills are dangerous. Research clearly indicates that when you fall asleep with those drugs, your body is not actually sleeping, it just tricks the brain, and most of those sleeping pills have been linked to low testosterone. With the vast list of sleeping-med side effects, I highly recommend that you skip those drugs.

So, there ya go: powerful secrets to sleep better overall, dream more deeply, stay relaxed, wake up rested, wake up way stronger, and recover your powerhouse body for all the ass-kickin' that life requires.

Until next time,
Sleep great & fight well.

Some Supplement Ideas