Sleep and muscle recovery: Endocrinological and molecular basis for a new and promising hypothesis
Abstract
Sleep is essential for the cellular, organic and systemic functions of an organism, with its absence being potentially harmful to health and changing feeding behavior, glucose regulation, blood pressure, cognitive processes and some hormonal axes. Among the hormonal changes, there is an increase in cortisol (humans) and corticosterone (rats) secretion, and a reduction in testosterone and Insulin-like Growth Factor 1, favoring the establishment of a highly proteolytic environment. Consequently, we hypothesized that sleep debt decreases the activity of protein synthesis pathways and increases the activity of degradation pathways, favoring the loss of muscle mass and thus hindering muscle recovery after damage induced by exercise, injuries and certain conditions associated with muscle atrophy, such as sarcopenia and cachexia.
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Sleep deprivation is associated with increased catabolic and reduced anabolic hormones, which results in impaired muscle protein synthesis, blunting training adaptations and recovery.
“Sleep deprivation is associated with increased catabolic and reduced anabolic hormones which results in impaired muscle protein synthesis [31], blunting training adaptations and recovery.”
From Sleep and Nutrition Interactions: Implications for Athletes (2019) · cites this paper as [31]
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BackgroundSleep, circadian biology and skeletal muscle interactions: Implications for metabolic health
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- Authors
- Dattilo, M., Antunes, H. K. M., Medeiros, A., Mônico Neto, M., Souza, H. S., Tufik, S., & de Mello, M. T.
- Affiliations
- Universidade Federal de São Paulo (BR)
- Venue
- Medical Hypotheses
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2011-08
- Volume
- 77
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 220-222
- ISSN
- 0306-9877 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2111841371
- Cited by
- 290
- References
- 41
- Citations by year
- 2026: 31 · 2025: 33 · 2024: 33 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 29 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 21 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 2.85
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Medical Hypotheses (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UNIFESP Institutional Repository (Universidade Federal de São Paulo) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Muscle Physiology and Disorders
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Muscle metabolism and nutrition
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
- Keywords
- sleep, muscle recovery, sleep debt, muscle atrophy, sarcopenia, cachexia, protein synthesis, protein degradation, cortisol, testosterone, insulin-like growth factor I, exercise-induced muscle damage, hormonal regulation
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Humans, Hydrocortisone, Insulin-Like Growth Factor I, Sleep Deprivation, Testosterone, Protein Biosynthesis, Recovery of Function, Muscular Disorders, Atrophic, Rats, Proteolysis
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