Many people take dinner at 7 p.m. As a rule, you will not eat until breakfast. Especially if you want to build muscle, this is the wrong way! Protein before sleep is important for muscle building. In this article, you will learn how to do it better.
How does muscle-building work?
Your muscle is in continuous assembly and degradation. Even now, when you read this post, your body builds or breaks down muscles. The balance between breakdown and breakdown is called protein balance. If the protein balance is positive, so you build up muscles, the protein balance is negative, building muscles. So if you want to build muscle, make sure that your protein balance is positive as often as possible during the day. You can control them via the protein dosed. If the protein or amino acids are missing, you end up in a so-called catabolic metabolic status. Therefore, the body’s own proteins are broken down, as amino acids have many important vital tasks in the body. These are, for example, the production of enzymes and hormones.
Protein before sleeping for muscle building.
Time and again, self-proclaimed experts say that everything taken before sleep is converted into fat. The digestion does not work during sleep, and therefore everything becomes fat. Forget these fairy tales!
Their protein build-up and protein degradation are subject to fluctuations in the 3-4 hour rhythm. Despite constant amino acid infusion over 24 hours, it has been scientifically shown that the muscle protein synthesis rate has fallen back to the baseline level after a maximum increase after 3–4 hours.
As mentioned above, you need a positive protein balance for muscle building. The build-up rate should therefore be higher than the rate of degradation. Therefore, it makes sense to consume a protein-containing meal or a protein shake before sleeping.
Which protein is best before sleep?
In a scientific study, Tang et al. (2009) investigated the effects of whey protein, soy protein and casein protein on the muscle protein synthesis rate. All study participants consumed either whey protein, soy protein or casein protein in random order immediately after strength training. All portions contained about 10 g of essential amino acids. 3 hours after taking the protein, the researchers used biopsy needles to take a muscle tissue sample and determine the mixed muscle protein synthesis rate.
Whey protein led to a higher increase in muscle protein synthesis rate than soy protein, which, like casein protein. The “digestion speed” determines the increase in the rate of muscle protein synthesis. The faster and higher the increase, the higher the increase in muscle protein synthesis rate.
What does this mean for protein intake in practice:
Whey protein leads to a higher increase in muscle protein synthesis rate. Casein protein is slowly released into the blood and therefore leads to a less severe increase. However, the amino acids are longer in the blood than, for example, whey protein.
It is not scientifically clear whether whey protein achieves a greater effect than casein protein due to the high increase in muscle protein synthesis and subsequent waste. Casein protein leads to a less severe increase, but the amino acids are available longer.
