Consuming milk proteins (casein (CP) and whey (WP)) at night before sleep has been shown to positively influence next morning resting metabolic rate (RMR). No data exist regarding the effect of pre-sleep consumption of CP and WP on the ability to perform resistance exercise (RE) the following morning. The present study compared the effects of low (24 g) and high (48 g) doses of CP and WP and a non-energetic placebo (PLA) consumed 30 min before sleep on morning RMR, and RE performance. Nine active women participated in this randomized, double-blind, crossover study. Next morning RMR was measured via indirect calorimetry. RE was performed on six machines for 2 sets of 10 repetitions, and a 3rd set to failure at 60% of one-repetition maximum to calculate RE volume (weight lifted × sets × repetitions). Magnitude based inferences were used. Compared to the PLA, 48 g CP had a likely increase in RMR (4.0 ± 4.8%) and possibly trivial (1.1 ± 7.0%) effect on RE volume. There were no clear effects of 24 g CP, 24 g and 48 g of WP on RMR and RE volume. In conclusion, 48 g CP elicited favorable changes in morning RMR, with only trivial changes in RE performance.
Keywords: casein protein; metabolism; pre-sleep feeding; resistance exercise; whey protein.