A person eats, exercises, relaxes and rests everyday. While eating and eating right is important for the body and so is exercise. The third most important factor is rest. The entire body requires proper rest to recuperate. When the muscles suffer from fatigue they require sufficient time to heal and repair themselves. If a bodybuilders is working out vigorously daily or an athlete is exercising hard everyday and they are not getting sufficient rest then they are going to burn themselves out.

The body repairs and grows when a person is sleeping. When a person goes to sleep the body then evaluates its condition and prepares a checklist of what all repair work it needs to do and then goes about doing it, as at this time the body is not involved in any other activity. When a person goes to sleep the body goes from a light to a deep sleep condition and then once its rest is completed it slowly moves out to a light sleep condition until a person wakes up. Bodybuilders, athletes require a minimum of eight hours of undisturbed sleep for the body to get rejuvenated. Sleeping more then eight hours is also good but the body consumes all the nutrients and proteins to repair the body and to keep it activate. At the end of eight hours of sleep the body needs to replenish itself and that is why a person wakes up. Sleep patterns differ with people. Some people catnap, others sleep at a stretch. So for a bodybuilder who is working out, taking a proper diet of proteins, carbohydrates and omega fats then getting proper rest is also as important as everything else.