Research

Hormonal

Sleep restriction (4 hours time-in-bed for five nights) significantly reduces myofibrillar protein synthesis (MyoPS) rates in healthy young men, but performing high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) during this period maintains MyoPS at control levels.

If you are experiencing sleep restriction (e.g., 4 hours of sleep for several nights), your body's ability to build muscle protein drops significantly. However, doing High-Intensity Interval Exercise (HIIE) during this period can keep your muscle protein synthesis rates normal. Do not skip exercise when you are sleep-deprived; instead, consider HIIE as a tool to protect your muscle mass.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
In the present study, we demonstrate that participants undergoing a sleep restriction protocol (five nights, with 4 h in bed each night) had lower rates of skeletal muscle MyoPS; however, rates of MyoPS were maintained at control levels by performing HIIE during this period.
Nicholas J. Saner et al. · The Journal of Physiology · 2020

Why this rating

Randomized controlled trial with clear grouping, objective measures (D2O tracer), and statistical significance, though limited to healthy young men.

Source

The effect of sleep restriction, with or without high‐intensity interval exercise, on myofibrillar protein synthesis in healthy young men

Nicholas J. Saner et al. · The Journal of Physiology · 2020

DOI 10.1113/jp278828

rct · n=24Cited 66×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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