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Muscle Growth7 min readOctober 15, 2024

Why Your Muscles Are Shrinking While You Sleep (And How to Stop It)

You lift heavy and eat protein, but you're still small. The missing variable is NREM3 Deep Sleep. If you aren't hitting this stage, your body stays catabolic.

The Catabolic Nightmare

Training breaks muscle down. Sleep builds it back up. It sounds simple, but the biology is specific. Muscle synthesis only occurs when Cortisol is low and Growth Hormone is high.

The "Bunk Bed" Effect

Think of muscle repair like building a bunk bed. You need the materials (Protein) and the workers (HGH). If you sleep 8 hours but wake up frequently, the workers never show up.

The Hypertrophy Zone

Light Sleep High Cortisol. Zero Repair.
Deep Sleep (NREM3) Peak Anabolism. Max Repair.

How SleepHack Prevents Muscle Loss

SleepHack's "Recovery Mode" plays sub-delta frequencies (0.5 - 2Hz). This extremely slow rhythm acts as a neurological sedative, preventing cortisol spikes from waking you up and keeping your body in anabolic overdrive.


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