I am not aware of data that states that muscle specifically builds during sleep. I think Jaquta makes a great point that it is important to rest muscles groups between exercise so that they have the opportunity to grow.
Also keep in mind that adequate sleep maintains that appropriate levels of certain hormones in our body that impact our appetites - good sleep is associated with maintaining a healthier weight.
I think that muscle growth is more applicable to rest. If one were to just sleep (or rest) then the muscles would atrophy through lack of use.
If you keep working out and breaking your muscles down they are going to become fatigued. Rest is as important as the actual exercise.
Jaquta, I appreciate your comments, as they make perfect sense. However, I do not see any medical evidence that suggests the nature in how muscles grow especially during sleep.
The doctor has not commented. I would greatly appreciate the Dr.'s input.
I've had to find out the hard way that if you don't allow for adequate rest then both performance and health can be adversely affected.
I think sleep is just used as a general reference for when the body is at rest and can repair itself.
I've got stuff about active recovery floating around in my head but I can't concentrate to work this stuff out.
How muscles grow can be found in most anatomy and physiology text books. I think that you might find that you are over-thinking this and that basic principles can be applied to this problem.
Dr Steven Park, found under expert activity, often writes about sleep. He may be a good person to ask. Or one of the other doctors who posts about sleep. There is also a Health and Fitness community forum that may be able to help. I know a doctor use to visit and answer posts there, not sure if he still is.
If our sleep is disturbed I wonder how long it would take to reset that balance of hormones and regulate our appetites.