Understanding The Importance Of Sleep and Athletic Performance and Recovery

Sleep is one of the most important components of people’s lives, and yet it’s also the most neglected. Around 70 percent of adults report that they do not get enough sleep at least once a month with around 11 percent not sleeping enough almost every single day.

For many, getting that mythical 7-9 hours of sleep every night seems impossible. After all, there’s so much to do every day, it’s almost easier to just try and get through with 5-6 hours or less. Interestingly, this hasn’t always been the case. The amount of sleep people get has slowly decreased over the years. In the 1940s most people were getting 8 hours of sleep. Today, most average 6.8, which the number getting smaller every year.

So why don’t we get enough sleep? There are many reasons, but the biggest can be traced back to technological advancements. Thanks to smartphones, we can now be connected 24/7 which is a good and bad thing. Good in that we can keep up with friends and family from around the world. Bad in that we spend way too much mindlessly scrolling social media, playing games and/or responding to work emails at all hours of the day.

As you’ve probably heard, electronic devices emit a blue light, which affects our natural circadian rhythm. While it doesn’t affect everyone the same, many people who are sensitive to it will find that they have a hard time going to bed after staring at their smartphone or computer. Of course, it’s not just the blue light that keeps us up.

Social media, games and movies all activate and excite the brain, which makes it harder for us to sleep. Add onto that our mostly sedentary lives and you have a recipe for insomnia. It’s not just regular folks who have poor sleep habits. Even athletic people often fall into the trap of not getting enough sleep. So what can you do?

Why sleep matters?

Importance of sleep for athletic performance

Although we don’t know the exact function of sleep, scientists do know that it’s vital to our health and general alertness. The less sleep you get, the less healthy you are. The less sleep you get, the more your hormones get out of control. Some common side effects include:

Decreased glucose intolerance - your body cannot process glucose as well leading to increased risk of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases
Decreased leptin and increased ghrelin - leptin suppresses your appetite while ghrelin stimulates hunger. Your body craves sweet and high-carb foods when sleep-deprived
Increased cortisol - you probably know cortisol as the stress hormone, but it’s not all bad. It has its time and place. However, when you don’t sleep enough, your body releases a lot of cortisol. This, in turn, affects your sleep and thus begins a vicious sleepless cycle.

It’s not just hormones, of course. Lack of sleep leads to decreased cognitive functions and alertness.It can often lead to disasters as evidenced by the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the meltdown at Chernobyl or car accidents. In fact, sleep deprivation has become a public health issue which has caused around 100,000 traffic accidents.

Sleep is essential for athletes

Whether you’re just working out at the gym or running a marathon, sleep is one of the big three when it comes to exercise in addition to diet and training. Sleep allows your body to recover from the daily stresses you put on it. When you sleep on your new sport mattress, your body moves into an anabolic state where energy conservation, repair and growth take the lead. However, in order for this state to achieve peak efficiency, you need a sufficient amount of sleep.

Your body goes through two primary sleep stages: rapid eye movement (REM) and non-REM (NREM) sleep. REM sleep is the state in which you dream and your body relaxes, essentially getting your body ready for NREM sleep. NREM is further divided into 4 sages, with each progressing deeper into sleep, eventually leading to slow-wave sleep (SWS).

SWS is essential for athletes as it helps with recovery. During this stage, your body releases growth hormones, which then utilize amino acids to help maintain and repair your muscles and bones. While your body does repair itself somewhat during waking hours, sleep helps renew your body much faster.

Sleep disturbances in elite athletes

For the most part, exercise can help improve your sleep quality and quantity. For most people, getting regular exercise can lead to better sleep quantity and quality. While researchers don’t know the exact mechanics of why exercise can improve sleep, they do know that it does increase how much SWS you get. In general, working out does a few things to your body:

It releases endorphins into your bloodstream. These are the ‘feel good’ hormones that many people experience after a good run or workout.
It raises your core body temperature and maintains that increased heat for about 30 to 90 minutes after exercise.
It increases your heart rate. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, but a good workout will get your heart pumping, thus increasing the flow of oxygen to your body.

In general, all of these can contribute to better sleep so long as you do it well before bedtime. If you end up working too close to bedtime, these three things can make it harder for you to get to bed. Most experts suggest working out at least 2 hours before your normal bed time.

So what about athletes? You would think that the amount of exercise they get, they would sleep like a rock. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case, especially for elite athletes. Sleep is often affected by sport and societal specific factors. Things such as constant stress can lead to more variability in sleep patterns than factors such as age or sex when compared to non-athletes. As well, athletes experience training and competition demands, which can lead to increased restlessness especially in the lead up to an event.

Of course, it’s not just the high training load and competition stress that keeps athletes up. Other issues such as jet-lag, stressful personal lives and even sleep apnea can also keep them up at night. Sleep apnea tends to be more prevalent in sports that require more strength and power such as rugby and American football.

This is mainly due to the need for higher body mass and a larger neck circumference in order to better mitigate potential injury during collisions. These same factors that help them on the field also leads to a higher risk of developing sleep apnea. Athletes in collision-based sports also tend to experience higher rates of sleep disturbance due to their higher rates of concussions.

You would think that athletes who are the peak of physical fitness would be healthy. While that’s true to an extent any don’t actually reap the benefits of exercise like regular people. This is due in part to sleep deprivation essentially negating any health benefits they might receive.

Prolonged exercises appears to be more affected by sleep deprivation

Prolonged exercises affects sleep and recovery

Despite the importance of sleep for the body and its effects, quite often doctors and medical professionals don’t prescribe sleep as a treatment to many athletes. Maybe it’s due to the demands of particular sports or perhaps it’s due to a lack of research on this topic. Regardless, most athletes just don’t get enough sleep and often their performance suffers.

Interestingly, sleep deprivation does not have as big of an impact in the short-term. Some studies have found that performance does not dip even after 24 hours of wakefulness.

It only seems to start impacting athletes after 30-36 hours without sleep. Not only did it lead to slower times overall, it also led to more confusion, a loss of vigor, poor mood and increased fatigue.

Of course, most athletes probably won’t go a full day without sleep. Most experience partial sleep deprivation where they just don’t get enough sleep every night.

Unsurprisingly, those who did not get the full 7-9 hours of sleep every night saw a decrease in overall vigor, precise motor responses, attention and problem-solving. It also negatively altered their mood making them a lot more tense, angry and confused. Interestingly, prolonged sleep deprivation didn’t seem to affect the maximal performance of athletes, but their training regiment and overall time to exhaustion.

Sleep extension and napping

So what happens when athletes do get enough sleep? The same thing that happens to most people when they get enough sleep. They’re more alert, have a better reaction time and are generally happier.

For normal people, these changes are fairly subtle. Maybe it means that you can focus on a task at work better or finish up a project faster than usual. It could also mean you have more patience to deal with that annoying coworker or client.

For athletes, however, this could mean the difference between winning or losing. A small study among college athletes found that those who got 10 hours of sleep a night for an extended period of time had improved their overall performance. Their speed, accuracy and reaction time improved leading to faster sprint times, more scores and improved blocks. As well, their mood improved and overall fatigue during practice and games decreased.

For many athletes who might not be able to get a full night’s sleep due to travel, napping is also an option. There isn’t a lot of research on the topic, but the ones that are available have found a positive correlation between napping and performance. Even among the general population, naps can often lead to improved performance, decreased fatigue and better cognitive function. With that said, naps over the recommended 30-minutes can negatively affect your sleep cycle, leading to sleep deprivation. So if you plan on taking a nap to make it through the day, make sure to set an alarm clock.

Of course, naps aren’t a permanent solution to sleep deprivation among athletes. Instead, it’s important that they focus on ways to maximize their sleep by:

Including sleep as part of a training regiment
Extending nightly sleep for weeks before a competition to offset sleep debt
Trying to get as much sleep every night to decrease overall sleep debt
Maintaining a consistent sleep schedule
Taking a quick 20-30 minute nap when drowsy

Focus on utilizing good sleep hygiene

Good sleep hygiene habits improve athletic recovery and performance

No, sleep hygiene doesn’t mean taking a shower before bed, although that could be part of it. It’s essentially means setting a schedule and improving your overall sleep habits including your organic mattress and sleep environment.

The number one sleep hygiene practice - get enough time asleep in bed. Needs vary by age, lifestyle and health, but most people, even athletes, should get between 7-9 hours of sleep every day.

Setting up good sleep hygiene practices makes it that much easier for you to fall asleep and often leads to higher quality sleep. Although sleep disruptions are common among athletes, a good routine can help reduce sleep deprivation. Of course, it requires some planning and work, but if the research is anything to go by, a well-rested athlete means a better performing one. Some good sleep hygiene practices include:

Limiting naps to 30 minutes. While a nap will never be able to fully offset a poor sleep schedule, it can give you a nice boost to keep you going throughout the day. Just make sure to nap early on in the day and avoid evening naps as it can negatively affect your sleep schedule.
Avoiding stimulants such as nicotine and caffeine. This should be a no-brainer, but caffeine and nicotine put your body into a state of alertness, which makes it hard to fall asleep at night. Avoid smoking and drinking caffeine 3-4 hours before bed.
Creating a relaxing bedtime routine. A nightly routine helps prepare your body and mind for bed. It doesn’t have to be a two hour affair. Something as simple as taking a shower before bed and reading a relaxing book can get you in the right mindset.
Getting enough natural light. Your body’s circadian rhythm is tied to the sun. Your body produces more melatonin, a hormone that promotes sleepiness, as it gets darker. However, if you spend your days indoors without getting any natural sunlight, you won’t produce as much. So get out and get some sunshine!
Avoiding disruptive foods. In general, you want to avoid eating 2-3 hours before bed as digestion and eating signals wakefulness to your body. In addition, certain types of foods can make it even harder to fall asleep as it can lead to heartburn or indigestion. Avoid eating fatty or fried meals, spicy dishes, citrus and carbonated drinks before bed.
Making your sleep environment pleasant. This can be difficult for athletes as many are probably traveling for a few days out of the week. However, taking the time to make your sleeping environment comfortable can go a long way in helping you go to sleep. This might mean reducing the room temperature, turning off all the lights, blocking any windows to avoid outside lights, using a white noise machine to block out annoying sounds and making sure you have the right amount of pillows.

Sleep Quality Is Important To Athletic Recovery and Performance

For athletes, sleep quality is one of the most integral parts of training that is so often overlooked. A good sleep regiment leads to better performance and less injuries as sleep helps heal the body from the day’s stresses. For many elite athletes, sleep can often be elusive as strenuous training can often have the opposite effect normal exercise has on people who are not athletes.

That along with increased stress is a recipe for sleep deprivation. Luckily, it seems like more trainers and athletes are seeing the benefits of getting more sleep. While it might be harder to maintain a consistent sleep schedule, especially for international athletes who will travel through multiple time zones, it’s not impossible. Some top tier athletes and coaches have started incorporating sleep hygiene practices in their training as well as relaxation techniques such as meditation to help improve overall sleep quality.

Lisa Czachowski is a professional social blogger and has worked on several online publications including Citrus Sleep. Lisa is an experienced content writer and copyeditor. You will find many of her works throughout CitrusSleep.com that cover a wide array of subjects including sustainability, natural, sleep products, health, fashion and many more. She is passionate about what providing as much information as possible on products you bring in your home and what we wear.

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