Make The Right Adjustments To Sleep Like A Pro Athlete

Are you one of those people that eat, sleep, and breathe health and wellness? Do you prioritize your fitness level above all else? If not, you should. Getting good sleep shouldn’t just be a priority for professional athletes, but for everyone. Sure, pro athletes may be engaging in more intense exercise that breaks down their muscles and drains their bodies of essential nutrients, fluids, and electrolytes, making a better night of sleep even more vital. But even if you’re only working out two or three times a week (or not at all!) a full eight hours of sleep can help your overall recovery. Perfecting your sleep environment - and learning how to sleep like a pro athlete - doesn’t have to cost a fortune. It starts with a few simple, easy-to-make tweaks to your ordinary sleep routine. Here’s how to do it.

Do You Want an Easy Way to Improve Your Game?

If you’re an athlete, you likely prioritize getting enough sleep. But is it good sleep? According to sleep expert Cheri Mah at the University of California, San Francisco, good sleep can not only improve your three-point and free-throw shooting by 9%, but it can also help you gain a more competitive edge in your sport. The benefits extend far beyond the basketball court, too. A better night of sleep can help you think more clearly and harness all the abilities of your mind. You won’t feel like you’re dragging all day, and you may find it easier than ever to reach your fitness goals.

Benefits

Your mom used to make you go to bed at a certain time every night when you were a little kid - so how come we aren’t sticking to a bedtime routine as adults? You’ve likely heard by the media, your doctor, and your personal trainer how important sleep is to your overall health and wellbeing. So how come you’ve yet to make a change? Sleep is critical to your overall health. Not only does it help your brain work efficiently, but it also improves learning, helps you pay attention, impacts your body’s insulin reactivity, and regulates hormones. It can also help repair your heart, muscles, and blood vessels.

Being chronically sleep-deprived, on the other hand, weakens your immune system (making you more susceptible to colds, cases of the flu, and other illnesses) and makes you incredibly irritable. It can also reduce your ability to learn, remember, and focus. If you’re an athlete at any level, sleep is even more important. Too little sleep impairs your judgment (have you ever noticed how bad you drive your car when you’re tired?) and causes you to make stupid mistakes. Get the right amount of sleep, and you’ll suffer from fewer energies and improve your reaction times. In fact, going for more than 22 hours without sleep impairs your reaction time in the same way that four alcoholic beverages can! If you go this long without sleep, the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine says, and you might as well be legally drunk.

To wrap things up, good sleep is vital if you want to develop and maintain peak fitness, both on the playing field and off. It’s crucial for your physical and mental health. So how do you get enough - and good enough - sleep? Here are some tips.

Sleep at Least Seven Hours a Night

While eight hours of sleep is best, you need to shoot for a minimum of seven hours of sleep. Any less, and you run the risk of experiencing symptoms related to the health risks of chronic inadequate sleep. If you’re an athlete, eight to ten hours of sleep is optimal. This will help your body replenish and refresh its nutrient stores, and it will also provide your body with ample time for your muscles, tendons, and other parts to heal.

While each person needs varying levels of sleep, don’t let your best friend who says, “they do best with four hours of sleep,” fool you. Sure, you might be able to get by on just four hours of sleep with the help of Red Bull and a cat nap here or there. However, in the long term, too-little sleep will cause you to crash and burn.

Maintain a Regular Bedtime and Wake-Up Time

When regulating your circadian rhythms and training your body to be a more efficient sleeper, it’s important that you maintain a regular sleep schedule. This can be difficult, especially with all of the commitments and to-do’s that life throws your way. However, it's important. When your body knows what to expect, it will naturally prepare you to sleep and wake up at the same time each and every day. That means less reliance on your alarm clock, stimulants, and sleeping pills, and more reliance on your body’s natural processes to wake you and lull you to sleep.

Not sure where to get started? Begin by setting an alarm on your phone that reminds you to go to bed about half an hour before you want to start your wind-down sleep routine (which we’ll get to in a minute). Also set an alarm to wake you at the same time each day. Don’t neglect the weekends, either. Many people take advantage of less stressful weekend hours to “catch up” on sleep. While there is some evidence that you can repair some minimal sleep deficits by sleeping in on the weekends, you need to be careful about doing this too often. It can make it more difficult for you to fall asleep at your regular bedtime on Sunday night, and leave you feeling groggy when you get up on Monday.

Instead, set a goal of remaining within an hour of your goal wake-up and bedtime on the weekends. While an hour here or there won’t hurt you, drastically changing your sleep schedule two or three days out of the week can be a big mistake. Keep in mind that what you do during your waking hours can have a huge impact on your sleep, too. When you engage in regular exercise, you’ll enjoy a more restful sleep. Another tip is to enjoy bright sunshine in the morning, which can reinforce your circadian rhythms. At the same time, you’ll want to avoid harsh, artificial light in the evening.

Implement a Wind-Down Routine

A good wind-down routine will help you transition to sleep. It is more difficult for your body to fall asleep if you jump into bed after finishing your work, getting home from the office, or even scrolling through your cell phone all evening. Instead, make time for a simple twenty- or thirty-minute wind-down routine. Reading is a good option, but try not to read from any kind of electronic device. Handheld readers aren’t as bad, but try to stay away from smartphones or tablets that emit blue light frequencies. These are proven to impact sleep in a negative way.

When it comes to protecting the sanctity of the bedroom, keep all entertainment, electronics, and work away from your sleeping area. You don’t want your bed to be associated with any kind of stress or tension. It’s for sleeping and intimacy only! Other options for a wind-down routine include taking a hot shower or bath - the heat will lull you into a calming, restorative sleep - or doing a light yoga or stretching routine. Try to avoid heavy exercise right before bed, though. While regular exercise is proven to help you sleep better and to enjoy a deeper level of sleep, intense exercise before bed can serve as a stimulant that will keep you awake longer than you’d probably like.

Having a good wind-down routine is important for everyone, but especially people who suffer from chronic anxiety or even prolonged periods of stress. If you find that you get nervous the night before a big event - like an important meeting with your boss, a race, or a big game - a wind-down routine will give you time to relax and recognize that it’s time to go to sleep. You’ll experience less tossing and turning as you struggle to fall asleep at night.

Evaluate Your Sleep Environment

Take a close look at your sleeping environment. The bedroom should be for sleep alone - not for watching television, doing work, or engaging in any other non-sleep tasks (well, there is one other task that’s probably okay!). Your room should be like a cave, ideally as dark as possible and also quiet and cool. Blackout curtains can be helpful, especially if there is a lot of light from streetlights or neighboring houses making its way into your bedroom. You can also use eye masks if blackout curtains are not an option.

To keep things quiet, use earbuds or earplugs. You can also use a white noise machine if you find that the silence is overbearing (or if you suffer from a distracting condition like tinnitus, which makes it hard to fall asleep). White noise can also help block out sudden noises that startle you out of a deep sleep, like a dog barking or a door slamming. Temperature is important, too, and setting the perfect bedroom temperature for sleep is something that a lot of people struggle with. Your bedroom needs to be nice and cool to help you get to sleep and stay asleep. Ideally, it should be around 60 to 67 degrees. Any warmer, and you’ll likely find yourself waking up more frequently throughout the night.

Reduce Your Intake of Alcohol and Caffeine

We all love a tall glass of wine before bed. It helps us wind down and relax at the end of a long day. There’s a reason why it’s called a “nightcap,” after all! However, when consumed in excess - or right before bed - alcohol can inhibit good sleep, particularly in the early morning hours. You may fall asleep more quickly, but it will be more difficult for your body to enter into that deep, restorative REM sleep it so badly needs. If you must imbibe, try to stop at least two or three hours before you plan to hit the hay.

The same rule of thumb follows for caffeine. Caffeine can help you wake up first thing in the morning, but it should not be consumed in the late afternoon or evening. This is because it has a half-life of about six hours - it likely won’t leave your body in time for you to fall asleep if you consume it too late in the day. Keep in mind that this rule applies to even those of us who argue that caffeine has no effect on us. Even if you think it’s not impacting your sleep, there’s a good chance that it’s inhibiting your ability to get the restful sleep you need.

Take Power Naps

There’s nothing wrong with napping a few times a week, either. As long as you keep your naps short - ideally, no more than twenty or thirty minutes - you can reap the benefits. The problem with naps longer than that (45 minutes or more) is that your body will begin to enter into a deeper stage of sleep. When you awake, you’ll feel even more sluggish and worn-down. You may also have a harder time falling asleep later that night. If you’re looking to improve your athletic performance, consider taking a quick power nap right before a game. You’ll likely notice an improvement in performance and alertness, at least for a few hours.

Just keep in mind that naps should not serve as a replacement for continuous, healthy, nighttime sleep. They are to be used as a temporary bandage at best. Unless you can’t control the amount of sleep you get at night (new moms and night-shift workers, we’re looking at you), aim for seven to eight hours of uninterrupted nighttime sleep as your top and first priority.

Invest in the Best

When it comes to good sleep, having the best gear on your side can make a huge difference. You need to make sure you have a comfortable, supportive mattress - and don’t forget to replace it, either. Most mattresses only last ten years at best. Replace your mattress when it’s reached this milestone to make sure it’s still doing its job effectively. Track your sleep positions to help decide on the best mattresses and pillows for your needs, too. While a side sleeper will need a firm pillow, a stomach sleeper will need one that is flatter.

Stick To A Good Sleep Routine To Sleep Like A Pro Athlete

Sleep is essential to good health. Whether you’re a weekend warrior or the best pro basketball player in the country or just athletic, you need to clock a solid, uninterrupted eight hours in order to stay healthy. While the adverse effects of too-little sleep are well-documented and dramatically amplified for professional athletes (after all, they rely on their bodies to make a living for them), sleep is important for you, too. Sticking to a good, regular sleep routine is one of the best things you can do to improve your sleep performance and improve your overall health. Don’t assume that your sleep doesn’t matter as much just because you aren’t what one of the pros. Instead, prioritize your sleep like you would your job, and you’ll reap the benefits almost immediately.

Karen A Mulvey is a personal social blogger and mom with 14 years of experience in the every day world of motherhood and sustainable product research. Karen is on a mission to help everyday families select sustainable, non-toxic organic products, stop stressing about uncertainties on sustainable home goods and apparel, and start living the life they’ve always wanted.

Follow Karen at @karenAmulveycs | Karen A Mulvey

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