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I’ve been getting 7-8 hours of sleep every night. However, I occasionally wake up once or twice to go to the toilet (twice is very rare).

It’s quite easy for me to get back to sleep, therefore these interruptions don’t last that long. Obviously, continuous sleep makes me less tired in the morning, although compared to interrupted sleep not by much.

Does interrupted sleep effect muscle growth? If so, by how much?

Also, does getting to sleep later have an effect on muscle growth? (I think the answer is no as long as you have enough sleep). I often get to sleep at 11PM on weekdays and 2-3AM at the weekends, but my sleep is always around 7-8 hours.

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The answer is yes.

Interrupted sleep can have negative consequences on your overall health.

Health consequences of sleep disruption

Therefore, a negative effect on muscle growth.

During the night, your body progresses through different stages of sleep. If one stage is interrupted, your body has to reset and start going through the stages again, meaning you may never get to the deep, restorative sleep that occurs during later stages.

It affects hormone levels, for example, testosterone or growth hormone.

Growth hormone release

This research has shown that the highest levels of testosterone happen during REM sleep, the deep, restorative sleep that occurs mostly late in the nightly sleep cycle.

Sleep disorders, including interrupted sleep and lack of sleep reduces the amount of REM sleep, will frequently lead to low testosterone levels.

And testosterone is crucial for muscle growth.

Interruption of sleep also affects cortisol level - a catabolic hormone that negatively affects muscle growth.

A lack of sleep will, therefore, increasing cortisol levels and put the human body under further pressure.

So try to drink more water during the day and less before sleep to avoid waking up at night.

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In short yes. Sleep is important for many reasons. We usually measure its hormonal effects. Most programs suggest you sleep more than 8 hours a night, sleeping undisturbed is best. "How much" is usually difficult to measure, it varies person to person and by intensity.

Somewhere on the internet there is a list that says. (In this order).

  1. Eat well
  2. Sleep well
  3. Train well

P.S. Don't drink water before bed.

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  • "Don't drink water before bed." Why not? A friend told me this but couldn't say why, I normally drink at least a half litre of water before going to sleep and have been for years.
    – Dark Hippo
    Commented Mar 5, 2020 at 9:08
  • Why wouldn't you drink water before bed?
    – MJB
    Commented Mar 5, 2020 at 11:08
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    Also he's asking if continuous sleep is important. In other words, is 8 hours of continuous sleep the same as 4 hours + 5 minutes awake + 4 hours of sleep?
    – DeeV
    Commented Mar 5, 2020 at 13:28
  • Water before bed means you have to get up and pee. Sleep cycles are important for hormonal reasons but I don't know enough on the topic to be specific. See the graph on this page. [countingsheep.net/sleep-stages/]. Note how REM periods get longer with each cycle.
    – Just_Alex
    Commented Mar 16, 2020 at 2:10

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