Pre-Sleep Protein for Athletes: What Are the Benefits?

It is no surprise to anyone that we say that proteins play a very important role both for general health and for sports performance. Proteins constitute the “bricks” with which the body's tissues are created and recovered, including muscle mass. Therefore, optimal protein consumption will be essential in any type of population, from older people who want to avoid the loss of muscle mass (known as sarcopenia) that occurs with age, to athletes who want to accelerate recovery processes or gain muscle mass.¹In fact, even in situations in which protein has traditionally been less popular, such as in the case of endurance athletes or in people who are following a low-calorie diet to lose weight, it will also be essential to maintain a high protein consumption. This is because, due to the energy deficit in which these people usually find themselves, whether due to high training loads or insufficient calorie intake, the body tends to use protein as an energy substrate, thus producing muscle catabolism (that is, loss of muscle mass).
Although protein can be obtained through the usual diet, in many situations such as those mentioned above the requirements may be greater than what we can obtain through diet (up to 1.5-2.0 g of protein per kg of body weight in the case of athletes, for example), in this case protein supplementation being an efficient way to achieve these requirements. In this sense, numerous studies have shown that protein supplementation is effective in increasing muscle mass, strength and facilitating recovery processes in athletes, including endurance athletes. However, until a few years ago, more was unknown about how the timing of protein intake influences its effects.

Protein before bed: scientific basis and benefits

Muscle mass is the result of the balance between muscle synthesis and catabolism processes that alternate throughout the 24 hours of the day. When we train strength, especially if we eat protein afterwards, protein synthesis increases, while when we fast or perform prolonged exercise without consuming protein, muscle catabolism takes priority on the scale and the balance becomes negative. Based on this balance, in recent years the intake of protein (mainly casein, which is a slowly absorbed protein) before sleeping has gained popularity, under the theory that this protein consumption before sleeping would increase protein synthesis during sleep, avoiding muscle catabolism that could occur during those hours of fasting.²In fact, higher protein synthesis values have been observed during the night in subjects who finished training in the afternoon (21:00h) and took 40 g of casein before sleeping (23:30h) compared to subjects who trained at the same time but took a placebo before sleeping.³

Confirming the possible benefits of protein supplementation before bed, a systematic review has recently been published that attempted to analyze all the studies published on the subject to date.⁴After analyzing the 9 published studies that met the inclusion criteria, the authors concluded that supplementation with 20-40 g of casein approximately 30 minutes before sleep stimulates protein synthesis during the night and favors adaptive responses of the muscle (e.g. increases in muscle mass or strength) if this strategy is maintained in the long term. In fact, a study conducted on 44 young people who strength trained for 12 weeks showed that those who consumed protein (27.5 g) before bed increased their strength and quadriceps cross-sectional area more than those who took a placebo.⁵Similarly, another study carried out on soccer players showed that those who consumed 40 g of casein 30 minutes before going to sleep recovered their performance better the day after the games (reflected, for example, in better jumping ability and less perceived muscle pain).⁶

Conclusions

More and more evidence shows that ingesting approximately 40 grams of casein (slow absorption protein) before sleeping could be beneficial, increasing protein synthesis during the night and thus promoting recovery processes and the gain of muscle mass and strength.There is controversy regarding whether these effects are due to the “timing", that is, by taking it before going to sleep, or simply because the total protein intake is increased throughout the day.⁷Be that as it may, and even if the same benefits could be obtained by taking the same dose of protein at another time of the day (which remains to be proven), ingesting casein before sleeping appears to be a very interesting option for athletes.

10% DISCOUNT ON THE WEB WITH THE CODE:

CROWN10

*Free shipping on orders over 25€

References

1. Jäger R, Kerksick CM, Campbell BI, et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition Position Stand: Protein and exercise. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2017;14(1):1-25. doi:10.1186/s12970-017-0177-8
2. Snijders T, Trommelen J, Kouw IWK, Holwerda AM, Verdijk LB, van Loon LJC. The impact of pre-sleep protein ingestion on the skeletal muscle adaptive response to exercise in humans: An update. Front Nutr. 2019;6(March):1-8. doi:10.3389/fnut.2019.00017
3. Res PT, Groen B, Pennings B, et al. Protein ingestion before sleep improves postexercise overnight recovery. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2012;44(8):1560-1569. doi:10.1249/MSS.0b013e31824cc363
4. Reis CEG, Loureiro LMR, Roschel H, da Costa THM. Effects of pre-sleep protein consumption on muscle-related outcomes — A systematic review. J Sci Med Sport. 2021;24(2):177-182. doi:10.1016/j.jsams.2020.07.016
5. Snijders T, Res PT, Smeets JS, et al. Protein Ingestion before Sleep Increases Muscle Mass and Strength Gains during Prolonged Resistance-Type Exercise Training in Healthy Young Men. J Nutr. 2015;(C):1-7. doi:10.3945/jn.114.208371.1
6. Abbott W, Brett A, Cockburn E, Clifford T. Presleep Casein Protein Ingestion: Acceleration of Functional Recovery in Professional Soccer Players. Int J Sport Physiol Perform. 2019;14(3):385-391.
7. Joy JM, Vogel RM, Shane Broughton K, et al. Daytime and nighttime casein supplements similarly increase muscle size and strength in response to resistance training earlier in the day: A preliminary investigation. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2018;15(1):1-9. doi:10.1186/s12970-018-0228-9