I hope you started your morning off right. Have you ever noticed how parched and famished you feel when you wake up, particularly when you are hitting it hard in the gym? I don't know about you all, but for someone as active as myself, sleeping for 7-9 hours a night is important. However, my body is not super happy when it wakes up and I haven't taken in any water or protein for that amount of time.
When we go to sleep, our bodies shut down, but we are still burning energy, obviously at a much slower rate. Nevertheless, we will still eventually get into a very hypoglycemic state in which our body is deprived of essential nutrients. This is why it's extremely important to rehydrate and refuel before a long night's sleep. What is the point of breaking down all of your muscle during hard workouts, if we aren't going to provide them the fuel they need to rebuild? Night time is a dangerous time due to it's important role in muscle growth. When you get into your deep sleep cycles, growth hormone is naturally released, and unless you are fueled properly and hydrated, it cannot do it's job.
This is where it gets confusing. Didn't I read somewhere that I shouldn't eat three hours before bed? Yes, you did. Am I saying that source was incorrect? Not exactly.
Because our body shuts down during sleep, it is important to go to bed right around that happy medium between starving and full. I certainly wouldn't pound a bunch of carbohydrates in the form of ice cream and sweets before bed time. However, if you are someone who is extremely active, going to sleep without anything at all in you, isn't going to be ideal either.
This is where our favorite form of slow digesting protein comes in, casein. Whey and Casein protein hybrids are ideal for a pre bedtime snack. Casein is the type of protein found in fat free milk, cottage cheese, some yogurts and can also be supplemented as a great way to keep your body optimally fueled for good sleep and waking up without being in "EAT ALL THE FOOD" starvation mode.
Although cottage cheese would be a great pre-bedtime snack, I prefer to supplement my last and first meals of the day. Shakes get into the bloodstream quickly and then do their jobs pretty efficiently without much effort. What's even better, if you find a Casein shake you really like, pop it in the freezer for a few minutes before drinking it, it's almost like ice cream to take off the sweet tooth edge so many of us have. (Thanks a lot dad!)
Being a vegetarian for the last nine years of my life, I've tried a few protein powders in my day. By far and away, Dymatize Elite Extended Release in the Blueberry Muffin flavor is my all-time favorite snack for before bedtime.
This tastes like, straight up blueberry muffin! Supplementing instead of eating food right before bed ensures that it won't be sitting in your tummy for long and disrupt your sleep. Not only that, but supplements make it much easier to control other variables such as the amount of sugar, other carbs etc. This protein for example has 130 calories per scoop, 21g of protein in the forms of whey and casein and 4g of sugar. It's taste is heavenly.
Mixed with water before bed, you avoid the extra calories in milk and also give your body a fighting chance to stay hydrated overnight. My next tip to stay hydrated? Go to sleep with a glass of water on your nightstand every single night. The easiest way for me to stay in this habit is to keep the same water bottle there, every single day as my designated bedside water. Wake up to use the restroom or because your dogs have a restless night? Drink water anytime your sleep is disrupted. I wouldn't go setting your alarm to drink water or anything, but how often do you honestly sleep straight through the night? I know I certainly don't see many nights like that. Get in the habit of taking a few swigs of water anytime you roll over and look at the clock.
Come morning, ideally you've been asleep for anywhere from 6-9 hours and your supplementation probably got you through the first half of the night. Think about it- if you were awake, you probably would have eaten anywhere from 2-3 times during a nine hour period. Just because we are sleeping, it's not any different. Particularly if you are trying to promote recovery during heavy volume lifting or if you're trying to keep on muscle mass. Again, let me reemphasize, these are NOT normal meals, and this is not an excuse to get up and snack on regular food in the middle of the night. That's just asking for trouble. If you are going to refuel around bedtime, it needs to be taken seriously and be very strict.
We all know that I go to sleep dreaming of my morning cup of coffee. However, the most important part of my morning ritual is getting this in:
…a scoop of 100% whey protein (choose whatever you like. I'm using On Performance Gold Standard in Banana Cream right now, so good by the way). I like to mix it with unsweetened vanilla almond milk, but feel free to mix yours with water or regular milk since it's the first meal of the day and you don't have to overly stress about your carb intake at this point.
Our bodies are depleted of nutrients, they are in starvation mode, you are likely dehydrated. In order to get your brain functioning properly and turn your metabolism back on, that first meal is important and should be taken in within an hour of waking. My first meal is my protein shake, plus water with a nuun rehydration tab thrown in.
Then, it's definitely on to my coffee!
There is one and ONLY one exception to getting this first meal in within the first hour of waking. If you are someone who can work out on empty and are trying to burn some stored fat, exercising is the only thing that should delay your first meal. If I am going straight to a workout, I will wait until directly after to get this first meal in. Rehydration however, starts immediately, regardless of my morning plans. When I do go straight to the gym without food, I have it with me in my car to consume right when I walk out.
Share with us:
What are some of your tips for staying hydrated and fueled throughout the night?
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