HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah — (Editor’s note: This is part two of a four-part series on the importance of sleep. Next week’s part three article in the Hilltop Times will focus on the stages of sleep and their importance.)

Many professional athletes have recently disclosed components to their secret formulas for success and athletic longevity.

One key element found within each athletes’ concoction is the consistent need for 7-9 hours of sleep each and every night of the week.

In fact, many athletes proclaim that for years they weren’t getting the performance and recovery results they expected from their routines until they finally committed to locking in consistent and sufficient sleep.

How consistent are you at getting 7 or more hours of nightly sleep? How’s your workout program going? Are you finding it a little frustrating to build muscle and do you feel totally recovered between workouts?

Inadequate sleep is associated with everything from an increase in body fat levels to an elevation of stress specific (catabolic) hormones like cortisol and thyroid stimulating hormones.

When these hormones are elevated your body is primed for negative metabolism or breakdown.

If you are going to the gym with an insufficient amount of sleep you are likely in this catabolic, negative state.

Efficient and consistent sleep will help ensure you are in a pre-workout building or anabolic hormonal state resulting in optimized muscular and endurance gains.

Conversely, poor and inconsistent sleep will prevent your body from efficiently cycling through the various stages of sleep, resulting in poor physical recovery.

Your Hill Air Force Base Health Promotion department offers Healthier Sleep, Healthier You classes on the fourth Tuesday of each month. In addition, our team is available to conduct flight- and squadron-level briefings on sleep and various other healthier lifestyle topics.

Call 801-777-1215 for additional information.