About this episode

Chad Franco discusses the importance of recovery and sleep for performance, including biological factors and actionable steps.

In this episode, I dive into Recovery and Sleep — covering the biology of sleep (testosterone, HGH, HRV, cortisol), my own story of unlearning sleep deprivation as a badge of honor, the five thieves of sleep quality, a four-step recovery protocol, and why the stakes of chronic under-recovery get significantly higher after 35. Leaving you with three actionable steps to implement today. Resources Mentioned: Take your free Vitality Score → click here Book a Clarity Call → click here Key Research Referenced: Testosterone reduction from sleep deprivation (Leproult & Van Cauter, 2011 — JAMA) HGH and slow-wave sleep architecture research HRV as autonomic nervous system recovery marker Alcohol and REM sleep suppression research Blue light and melatonin suppression (Harvard Medical School / circadian biology literature)

People in this episode

Host: Chad Franco

Topics covered

• Recovery
• Sleep
• Performance
• Health
• Fitness

Keywords

• recovery
• sleep
• performance
• testosterone
• HGH
• HRV
• cortisol
• sleep quality
• under-recovery

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Harvard Medical School

Books & works: JAMA

More episodes of The Chad Franco Podcast

• Episode 134: Where the standard health markers fall short with Nick Tognietti · July 14, 2026 · 54 min
• Episode 133: Daily Behaviors: The Twenty-Three Hours Nobody Is Talking About · July 7, 2026 · 30 min
• Episode 131: Your Environment Is Either Building You or Breaking You · June 23, 2026 · 28 min
• Episode 130: Physical Capacity — The Metric That Determines Your Independence · June 16, 2026 · 24 min

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