After a muscle-damaging event there are a lot of hormonal, neurological, and physical repairs that needs to be done for the body to recover, and much of this happens while we are sleeping. For optimal recovery, most athletes need between seven and ten hours of sleep a night.

To help avoid interruptions to your sleep, try to sleep in a cooler environment set your bedroom temperature between 65 degrees and 72 degrees Fahrenheit , limit your exposure to light before and during sleep, and avoid consuming alcohol before going to sleep.

Take our free 2-minute quiz to discover how effective your training is and get recommendations for how you can improve. Elevating your legs, using compression garments, and pneumatic compression Normatec boots may help with reducing swelling from extracellular fluid and lymph.

This may be especially true following ultraendurance events because they tend to bring on more swelling in the first place. You can find studies on both sides, including one from Born, et al. that looked at the effect of compression garments on recovery and showed a reduction in muscle swelling and perceived muscle pain, and observed a positive effect on recovery of maximal strength and power.

Van Cauter E, Plat L. Born DP, Sperlich B, Holmberg HC. Learn step-by-step how to overcome limited training time and get faster. Walk away with a personalized plan to increase your performance. Email Phone This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Hey trainright team, this article is gold and so is the comment section. Thanks for the valuable advice everyone. I feel super hungover today, I did a trail race yesterday and pushed myself pretty hard. I definitely did not replenish my body properly.

Instead, I used the race as an excuse to go wild on bad food haha. So that is one reason. If you are looking for an adventure: Rinjani, Mantra Summits Challenge both in Indonesia.

Both increeeeeedible races! Fondo recovery I understand. Multi day riding and events are looming next year. what do you suggest to your guests in the Mammoth Fondo camp? kettlebell thigh smashes. These can be coupled with Voodoo bands for high intensity blood flow restriction that, in my experience, is far more effective than compression wear.

You should NEVER wear graduated compression socks mmHg for example when sleeping at night. Compression such as this should only be worn during wake times due to the need for high working pressure garments.

If sleeping an alternative low resting compression garment should be used. There will still be the same compression strength, just provided in a much different and safer manner.

Significant damage can be caused to the venous and lymphatic system when compression socks are used incorrectly. Sheila and Samantha, Post-exercise insomnia is a real thing and is relatively common.

Stress from exercise increases cortisol levels, and on a day to day basis your cortisol levels normally peak shortly after you wake up and gradually decline through the day. The caffeine ingested during or adrenaline released during an event can be factor, but adrenaline levels fall quickly and many athletes are habituated to caffeine.

Hydration status and core temperature can contribute to sleeplessness, as well. People get more restful sleep in cooler environments, and core temperature typically falls slightly during sleep. If your core temperature is elevated after a long and hot day participating in an event, it can be difficult to get to sleep and remain restfully asleep.

This is why it is important to focus on rehydration and bringing core temperature down in the hours following strenuous exercise in the heat. What an excellent response from the CTS coach. Have tried Benadryl, muscle relaxers — nothing works. I now expect to be up a lot the night after a race, but I can usually sleep a good 9 hours the second night.

And I try to do that as much as possible in the week after to recover. For athletes training once per day or more often, refueling for the next workout as quickly as possible is crucial. Refueling accurately and consistently after workouts will restore muscle and liver glycogen stores, replace fluid and electrolytes lost in sweat, promote muscle repair and bolster the immune system.

Athletes who optimize post-exercise nutrition will perform better in their next training session and accumulate more high quality sessions than athletes skipping post-exercise recovery fueling.

There are two post-exercise recovery fueling windows. The first is within 30 minutes of a hard or long training session. The second is in the two to three hours post-exercise. Short easy training sessions do not require special recovery nutrition. Athletes are best sticking to their daily nutrition plan with a normal whole foods meal after easy training sessions.

Fluid, electrolytes, carbohydrates and protein are the foundation of proper recovery nutrition. Immediately after finishing a workout, start replacing fluid and electrolyte losses with a sodium containing drink or water plus sodium containing food.

Estimate fluid losses by weighing yourself before and after training and drinking 16 to 24 ounces of fluid for every one pound lost. To restore muscle glycogen and promote protein synthesis , consume 0.

For a 70kg or lb athlete this would be 56g of carbohydrate and 14g of protein. Fluid, electrolytes, carbohydrates, and protein can be replaced with a commercial recovery drink, a homemade smoothie or with real food plus water.

Additionally, antioxidants such as vitamin C and vitamin A, probiotics, medium chain triglycerides and L-Glutamine can shorten recovery duration and are good additions to a recovery drink or snack.

Continue your recovery nutrition two to three hours post-exercise by eating a whole foods meal. It is OK to eat earlier than this if you are hungry but do not delay this post-exercise meal more than three hours. This meal should contain a combination of carbohydrate, about 20g of protein and some fat.

Dividing daily protein intake into four or more 20g meals has been shown to have a greater stimulus on protein synthesis than two big meals with 40g protein per meal or 8 smaller meals with 10g per meal. A 20g feeding of protein is the sweet spot to maximally stimulate muscle protein synthesis.

After a training session on a hot day, immediately cool your body down if your core temp feels hot by drinking cool fluids, sitting in cool water or air conditioning and pouring iced water over your head.

Cooling off will halt continued dehydration and increase your appetite. Studies have shown increasing duration asleep leads to increased performance and mental well-being in athletes. We also know chronic sleep debt impairs performance and reduces motivation to excel.

Foundation sleep recommendations for adult athletes are 8 to 10 hours per night plus a 30 minute nap between 2 to 4 PM. I know that is a tough call for most athletes to achieve along with all the other responsibilities of life. Junior athletes need even more sleep with 9 hours per night plus a 30 minute nap in the afternoon.

Along with sleep duration, sleep quality and sleep phase also affect the regenerative qualities of sleep. Sleep quality can be improved by reducing disturbances by wearing earplugs and sleeping in a cool, dark room.

Following a pre-sleep routine of relaxing activities, avoiding light exposure from screens in the hour before bed, avoiding stimulants such as caffeine after noon and alcohol in the evening may increase your sleep quality and duration.

Restless leg syndrome can occur in athletes with low serum iron levels and disrupt normal sleep patterns. Exercising late in the day can make sleep elusive for some athletes. Summertime evening group training or local races make sleep especially hard to come by.

Following up an intense evening session with inadequate sleep is a poor combination. Athletes losing sleep after these evening sessions are advised to switch their intense training sessions to the morning and put their evening hours towards lower intensity activities such as yoga, stretching, and massage.

If you can measure it, you can improve it!