It’s a brand new year, which means countless people are hitting the gym and working out more regularly as part of their resolutions. Any fitness expert will tell you that recovering properly between each session is important to gain as much as possible from your workout and not feel worn down or become injured, but have you ever wondered what exactly it means to “recover properly”? With all of the supplements, shakes and ointments out there that claim to decrease soreness and make you 100% prepared for your next workout session, it can be daunting to really understand what your body needs. As it turns out, there may be a much simpler and far more effective solution that will propel your fitness goals: sleep.

For whatever reason, it’s been a really long week. In order to make it to the end of Friday afternoon, you down two cups of coffee in the morning. Once you’ve made it through the day, you celebrate with some greasy comfort food and one or two beers with friends — and find it really hard to fall and stay asleep that night, waking up on Saturday morning feeling not as fresh as you thought you might. What happened?

The truth is, there is a lot that goes into getting quality sleep. We often think it’s as simple as going to bed at a decent time or not drinking a Red Bull the hour before hitting the hay, but consistently achieving a good night’s rest has a lot of variables — a key one being nutrition.