Can Sleep Improve Your Athletic Performance? (2024)

FAQs

Can Sleep Improve Your Athletic Performance? ›

Nine to 10 hours of continuous sleep helps with muscle memory. Without it, the sport-specific muscle techniques athletes spend hours training for won't stick as well. Increased sleep results in better reaction times, coordination and split-second decision-making.

Both increased quantity and quality of sleep helps athletes improve performance in many areas related to the demands of the sport. A Stanford study of men's basketball players who extended their sleep to 10 hours a night found several positive outcomes. The players ran faster in both half-court and full-court sprints.

Sleep allows muscle tissue time to recover between workouts. Sufficient sleep is also important in having the energy to exercise. Not getting enough sleep can lead to being less physically active during the day and reduced muscle strength during workouts.

In addition to nutrition and physical exercise, sleep plays an essential role in helping athletes achieve optimal performance. Unfortunately, student athletes often juggle a variety of commitments that can make it difficult to meet sleep needs. On average, college athletes spend between 27 and 41 hours per week.

Aim for Seven to Nine Hours

Pro athletes typically need more than most—it's recommended that they get 8-10 hours every night. But for the average adult, aim for seven to nine hours of sleep a night to avoid the effects of chronic sleep deprivation.

Sleep deprivation can lead to decreased stamina and quicker exhaustion. It can also lead to a decreased reaction time and lower accuracy. It is also linked to mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, and stress. Poor sleep can also affect the immune system leaving athletes more susceptible to illness.

Remember: Sleep helps muscles release protein-building amino acids into the bloodstream at an increased rate which helps them grow bigger and stronger over time. Sleep helps to release growth hormones during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep which helps with muscle repair.

Lack of sleep weakens the immune system, making people more likely to become sick — which means missing workouts. Sacrificing sleep has also been tied to weight gain, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, among other health problems. Of course, regular exercise provides a lot of benefits, too, including sounder sleep.

STUDIES SHOW THAT SLEEP HELPS YOUR BODY REGENERATE

Sleep maintains your mental and physical health, helps your body recover, and strengthens your immune system. If we were to judge based on this aspect alone, we would have to say that sleep is more important than exercise.

If you must choose between working out for an hour or getting another hour of sleep (meaning you'd get an adequate amount of sleep if you slept, and not enough if you worked out), Breus says that sleep is the best choice.

Do athletes sleep better than non athletes? ›

They used wristwatch actigraphy to quantify sleep. Their results indicated that there were significant differences between athletes and controls in all measures apart from 'time asleep'. Surprisingly, the athlete group had poorer sleep characteristics compared to the non-athletic group.

“Sleep services all aspects of our body in one way or another: molecular, energy balance, as well as intellectual function, alertness and mood,” says Dr. Merrill Mitler, a sleep expert and neuroscientist at NIH. When you're tired, you can't function at your best.

This is because our brain is constantly forming new connections while we are awake. The longer we are awake, the more active our minds become.

Exactly how much sleep does an Olympic athlete need? This may come as a slight surprise, but Olympic athletes need seven to nine hours of sleep per night – about the same amount as an average person. The interest athletes and their trainers have taken in the effects of sleep has increased over the past few years.

On the other hand, extended sleep deprivation does seem to have a harmful effect on strength, with consecutive nights with reduced sleep affecting multi-joint strength.

Performance anxiety is common; more than 60% of athletes reported insomnia the night before competition. Even without this, the elite-athlete lifestyle can include frequent travel, variable schedules, and injury or pain, that can predispose individuals to insomnia.

Contrary to popular belief, sleeping less doesn't mean you'll get more done. In fact, studies have found that people who sleep five to six hours a night are 19% less productive than people who sleep seven to eight hours a night. Catching less than five hours a night bumps your productivity down by 29%.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's “sleep faster” strategy

The former Mr Olympia sleeps just six hours a night so that he has at least 18 hours of productive time during the day. The seven-time bodybuilding champion reportedly spent as much time in the gym as he did in bed during his early career.

Sleeping for 7-9 hours per night is crucial, especially if you are looking to change body composition, increase muscle mass and/or if you want to be ready for your personal training session the next day. Sleep enhances muscle recovery through protein synthesis and human growth hormone release.

Yes, it does. As part of our natural circadian rhythm, testosterone levels rise during sleep. Studies have shown that sleep deprivation can cause a significant decrease in testosterone production.

Does more sleep equal more muscle? ›

What researchers discovered was that the individuals who slept only 5.5 hours had 60% less muscle mass at the end of the study, while those who slept 8.5 hours had 40% more muscle mass. Obviously, we can see the powerful effect that sleep has on muscle recovery and growth.

Can you sacrifice some zzzs a few times a week in order to fit in regular exercise? Yes, but with caveats, says Dr. Phyllis Zee, director of the Center for Circadian and Sleep Medicine at Northwestern University. Regularity is very important for sound, restorative sleep.

Good sleep improves your brain performance, mood, and health. Not getting enough quality sleep regularly raises the risk of many diseases and disorders. These range from heart disease and stroke to obesity and dementia.

No line of work requires more sleep than “professional athlete.” Roger Federer and LeBron James have said they sleep an average of 12 hours per day, compared to about 7 hours for the average American. Usain Bolt, Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova and Steve Nash sleep up to 10 hours per day.

Deep sleep for athletes is particularly important. During this stage the pituitary gland releases human growth hormone (HGH) that stimulates tissue growth and muscle repair. This plays a key role in recovering muscle damage after training sessions and supercompensating.

“Judgment is affected, memory is impaired, and there's deterioration in decision-making ability and eye-hand coordination,” Cralle says. You also tend to be more emotionally reactive, attention is decreased, hearing is impaired, and there is an increase in your risk of death from a fatal accident, she says.

Short-term cannabis use appears to increase the time you spend in deep sleep, the stage that helps you wake up feeling refreshed. However, THC decreases the amount of time you spend in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, when you spend more time dreaming, processing emotions, and cementing new memories.

How long can you go without sleep? ›

The longest time a human being has gone without sleep is 11 days and 25 minutes.

When Is the Best Time To Go to Sleep? Research suggests the ideal time to go to sleep is 10 p.m. But you should focus more on having a consistent schedule and routine when it comes to hitting the hay.

Your sleep needs are probably influenced by your genes. It's a new way of thinking about sleep that's gaining steam, thanks to a rare group of people known as natural short sleepers, or those who can function normally on less than six hours of sleep a night.

“People who experienced life satisfaction spent approximately 6 more minutes asleep every night which, although small, may have cumulative effects over time and may be meaningful for individuals already getting less than 7 hours of sleep a night,” explains Gottlieb.

As for why we get giddy on little sleep, according to the findings published in the Journal of Neuroscience, sleep deprivation boosts activity in the brain's mesolimbic pathway.

For a 7 AM startline, waking up at 3 AM is not only the best time to be sure that you can eat, get ready, and make your way to transition in time, but will also have you reaching your performance peak just in time for the event to start. Train hard, train healthy.

As athletes, our lives tend to be pretty busy so there isn't much time for resting. When we're traveling overseas that routine changes drastically. I'll go to bed sometime between 10 and 11:30 p.m, and I'll wake up around 8 or 9 a.m., depending on what our training was the day before.

Back. Although your bedmate may be angered by increased snoring that sleeping on the back can cause, this position is considered the best for aligning the spine properly. With the entire body depending on the spine for support, the athlete will gain the most from sleeping in the back position.

Melatonin cannot directly improve athletic performance, but it indirectly improves some physiological functions of the body. The popularity of melatonin among athletes is for the following reasons: Relieves symptoms of jet lag. Helps adjust sleeping pattern.

6 hours sleep may be sufficient for some muscle growth but you may find your gains come more quickly by aiming for between 7 and 9 hours sleep each night. Most people average around 7.5 but experiment a little if you're able and find the optimal sleeping pattern for you. Ready to start lifting weights at home?

Why a good night sleep is important for success in sports performance? ›

For example, adequate sleep improves reaction time and accuracy, and reduces mental errors. Restful sleep also allows the body to recover fully, repair and regenerate cells after workouts, all of which can help reduce the risk of injury.

Based on sleep questionnaires Maas has done with players on multiple teams, he estimates that NFL players average a little more than six hours per night—at least a couple hours short of what their bodies need.

A common side effect in many studies has been that runners have a higher perception of effort for a given level of exercise. In other words, lack of sleep makes everything seem harder -- especially running. Lack of sleep also impacts a runner's ability to regulate body temperature. Dr.

Even small amounts of poor sleep have been demonstrated as having a significant impact ( Irwin et al. 1996) and over time this could lead to impaired immunity. The best positions to sleep in are on your back or on your side. Sleeping on your back will allow your body to naturally fall into a neutral position.

In reality, sleep actually propels your success in several ways, according to modern scientific research. From physical to mental, rest plays many important roles in how you act, think, feel and perform.

Brady goes to bed at 8.30pm every night to ensure he gets nine hours of sleep. His day usually starts before the sun is even up, especially during football season when he played in New England.

If you're an athlete in training, you may need more. "Just as athletes need more calories than most people when they're in training, they need more sleep, too," Geier says. You're pushing your body in practice, so you need more time to recover. Athletes in training should sleep about an hour extra.

The two-nights rule stands, as long as two nights before your event is one of many nights during which you got enough sleep.

“Without sleep, your muscles can't recover from the stress you put them through during workouts. It doesn't do you much good to keep breaking down your muscles without giving them time to recover and grow stronger,” Dasgupta said.

So why do people think they are able to function optimally on 6 hours of regular sleep? This is because of a natural human phenomenon known as 'renorming'. Renorming means that we are only able to compare how we feel today to how we felt yesterday or the day before.

Is 6 hours a night enough sleep? ›

While some people regularly function on short periods of sleep, research mostly agrees that six hours of sleep is not enough for most adults. Experts recommend that most adults need at least seven hours of sleep every night.

For most people, 4 hours of sleep per night isn't enough to wake up feeling rested and mentally alert, no matter how well they sleep. There's a common myth that you can adapt to chronically restricted sleep, but there's no evidence that the body functionally adapts to sleep deprivation.