Is It Allowed to Consume Protein Before Sleep?
Protein is a key nutrient that promotes muscle growth, weight loss, and nutrient loss during active exercise and after it. If you take it at night, then it will have several more useful actions – relieve hunger and speed up metabolism. This is important for losing weight because it will require burning more calories than we gain (eat) in a day. However, let’s see whether it is a good idea to consume protein before sleep.
Late protein consumption helps to lose weight
Studies show that a nightly meal can help you shed an extra 100 calories the next day just by drinking a glass of healthy drink the night before. For the body to assimilate proteins, it needs to spend much more energy than carbohydrates. Therefore, metabolic processes are accelerated. And the ability to satisfy hunger will allow you to give up late snacks.
Improves muscle growth
Most people work out in the evening, so a shake after a workout is considered the last protein snack of the day. But this need not be limited – muscle protein breakdown can occur at night, which is due to low muscle stimulation during sleep. At the same time, the intestines continue to function properly, so any protein food continues to be digested at night. As a result, muscle growth can be achieved even while dreaming.
In the course of observations, it was noted that the strength of people taking the powder and those who refused it differed by 20%, the size of the quadriceps muscle increased by 10%, and the number of “fast” fibres – by 12%.
How does it impact sleep?
While sleeping, a person recovers, and with a lack of sleep it becomes scattered, efficiency decreases, immunity is weakened, protein is synthesized more slowly. Based on the research of the British Institute, it was concluded that high-quality protein powder can improve the quality of sleep. It increases the amount of the amino acid L-tryptophan. If it is absorbed together with carbohydrates, it will sooner be absorbed by the brain, the person will fall asleep faster, sleep better, the body will rest better.
What type of protein to choose?
Many trainers and doctors recommend choosing casein at night as it is slowly digestible. Although the actual differences between casein, whey, and soy are not significant. But the latter two are absorbed much faster, and casein releases amino acids gradually. Casein provides a feeling of fullness for a long time, can speed up the metabolism the next day.
Also among the recommendations is the dosage. If for whey and other types taken during the day, it is 30 g per serving, because more of it is simply not absorbed, then for the night, its weight reaches 40-50 grams.
Protein shake before going to bed
Based on the above facts, it can be argued that the best composition will be the one in which tryptophan and protein are present. This will not only stimulate the muscles, but also speed up the metabolism, produce melatonin, and improve the quality of sleep.
Yogurt and milk contain both whey and casein, while tryptophan can be obtained from sunflower and pumpkin seeds. Therefore, we recommend taking: 20 g protein powder, 150 g low-fat Greek yogurt, 2 tbsp. l. pumpkin seeds, 1 tbsp. berries, milk, and water to obtain the desired consistency.
All this is mixed in a shaker, drunk just before bedtime. You can find all the necessary proteins on the My Protein website.
WANT TO RECEIVE PERSONAL, STYLISH SUGGESTIONS TO YOUR EMAIL?
FILL OUT THE FOLLOWING FORM: