Sleep Your Way to Success
In a sporting landscape where everyone is looking to find the extra 1%, the extra training session that’s going to make all the difference, the extra supplement in their dietary habit that’s going to take them from contender to champion, many of us continue to overlook the biggest performance enhancement tool of them all.
Not just a performance enhancer either; a mood enhancer, a recovery booster, an immunity charger. If you haven’t figured it out by the title of this blog, I am of course, talking about sleep. The power of sleep is so significant when it comes to our health and performance, if you could bottle it up, it would be the hottest supplement on the market and would probably be deemed a PED.
And yet, so many people, across all walks of life, are happy to let sleep slump to the bottom of their priority list - forgetting it isn’t just their choices in the waking hours that can influence their success. We’re shunting sleep into the spotlight here, to tell you exactly why you might need to rethink your sleep strategies, and make a good night’s sleep a priority from here on out.
So, Why Sleep? What’s so special about sleep, what can it really do for you? Well before we talk about what sleep does do, we need to talk about the adverse effects that not sleeping can have on your performance, both mentally and physically.
we can be talking about the difference between winning and losing
Decreases in psychomotor functions can occur after as little as one night of restricted sleep, meaning that the impairment in cognitive function can have a negative effect on your reaction time, your decision making, and even your ability to pick up cues that your sporting performance relies on. If this is the night before a game, we can be talking about the difference between winning and losing, or the difference between impressing or being dumped by the coach calling the shots.
A 2019 study by Silva et al., showed that low sleep efficiency (quality and consistency of sleep cycles), high sleep latency (taking a long time to get to sleep), and sleep fragmentation (frequently disturbed sleep) may well have a significant impact on injury risks amongst footballers. This more-than-likely applies across the board, with sleep being the time that our body repairs itself, grows, and rebuilds after the stressors that physical training places on us. Less sleep = less recovery!
Just like calories, it’s likely that athletes need more sleep than the general population in order to counterbalance the intense physical stress that most sportsmen and women endure as part of their daily routine.
There is a fairly large body of research also pointing to the effects of sleep deprivation on our immune function, with athletes sleeping 5hrs or less per night, up to 3x more likely to fall to illness or infection than an athlete that sleeps 8hrs +. When we sleep less, we build up sleep debt, carrying our fatigue from the day previous in to the following day, and if we do this consecutively, our immune function can become impaired. Not only this, changes in our glucose metabolism, and neuroendocrine function can occur as a result of chronic sleep deprivation - resulting in alterations in the may we metabolise carbohydrate, our appetite, and our rates of protein synthesis (talk about a domino effect!).
Poor sleep not only impacts our performance, but also our nutritional, our metabolic, and our endocrine status, confounding the viscious cycle that makes optimal performance almost unattainable when the chips are down.
Are you creating the optimal environment for you to rest and recover?
If you’re not convinced by now that sleep should be a priority, then read this section again. I know that sleep however, does not come easy to all of us. But have you thought about why that might be? Are you creating the optimal environment for you to rest and recover? If you don’t know - read on.
Optimal Sleep Hygiene may look slightly different for each of us. However, that being said, there’s plenty of elements of creating the best sleeping environment that are pretty universal. If you’re doing none of the below, it may explain your sub-optimal sleep - and if you’re doing some of them, well then I’ve just filled in the blanks for you to take your zzz’s to a whole new level.
Temperature - Research suggests a “cool” temperature is ideal for supporting a good nights sleep. Aim for 17-20C, and in the winter months, don’t be afraid to stick thin socks on in case a foot falls astray from the duvet.
Twilight Time - Avoid exposure to blue light emitted from screens at least 2hrs before bed. This exposure suppresses melatonin production which is fundamental when it comes to winding down and inducing sleep.
Dinner Time Habits - High GI carbohydrate foods, as well as proteins rich in trptophan may well improve sleep if made a cornerstone of your final meal. Try to make this >2hrs prior to sleep, as either high fat intake, or eating too close too sleep, means your body has to work hard to digest, when it should be shutting down for z’s.
Mattress Check - If your mattress is older than 8 years old, then it is much more likely to have allergens. These allergens can effect your sleep quality and make it much more difficult to find comfort in the night.
Familiarity - Find a duvet and a pillow that works for you and try and stick with it. That means if you’re on away days, don’t be embarrassed to pack up your pillow.
Darkness - Ensure your room is as dark as possible, that means turning off standby lights, and switching off any lights in the hallway. The darker the better, as this will play a significant role in ensuring your sleep is deep and undisturbed.
Pre-Bed Routine - Find a routine that allows you to gradually wind down, meditation is perfect! Try and avoid going straight from dashing around the house, to trying to get to sleep, as some sleep latency is almost guaranteed!
Silence please - Similar to the neccessity for darkness, we also want to try and create an environment as quiet as possible to minimise the risk of sleep disturbance. If this is out of your control, then either try ear plugs, or white nosie in an attempt to drown out background grumblings. headspace have a library of brilliant Sleep Stations!
Weighted Blankets - Now this is anecdotal largely, but using a weighted blanked ~10% of your bodyweight may help combat restlessness. I use one personally, and have noticed a significant improvement in the continuity of my sleep - less tossing & turning means more quality sleep and more quality recovery.
Sometimes, not all of these things may be possible, and yes there’s other considerations too (magnesium intake/melatonin rich foods/warm showers prior to bed) that we can implement, but these cornerstones should be your fundamentals, your bread and butter. If you fall foul to a poor nights sleep, there is always plan B…
The Top-Up Nap has often been a contentious topic. Didn’t get quite enough sleep the night before? You may have been told by your parents to stop being so lazy, but the evidence shows that a good quality nap can act as a “sleep supplement” , having a positive influence on cognitive tasks following a night of deprived sleep. They can reduce sleepiness, can be beneficial when learning skills, strategies, and tactics, and can even help to reverse some of the negative hormonal responses associated with a poor nights sleep. That said, there’s a smart way to do it…. Here’s a few things to think about when you want to squeeze in your sleep supplement:
Timing - Try and time your nap about 12hrs from the middle of your usual sleep period if you can. So if you normally sleep from 10PM-6AM, then try and nap at 2PM in the afternoon.
Duration - Aim for naps between 15-30minutes, any longer can increase the sense of grogginess once you wake.
Plan B - If you can’t sleep, or you feel like your brain simply won’t settle, consider meditation instead, and if you still have no luck - just try lying down, eyes closed, and deep breathing, this alone will give your brain a much needed rest.
Caffeinated Dreaming - Having a cup of coffee prior to your nap can aid your alertness when you wake up.
Know When It’s Chronic - Still feel exhausted? It may be that you’re sleep debt is still too sufficient to shake off. If this is the case, make sleep a priority for the following two nights to restore a sense of balance.
Post-Nap - Ensure that you expose yourself to natural light at your earliest opportunity, and you can try cold water exposure too to help assure you don’t carry that slumber feeling with you for the rest of the day.
Better sleep is at your disposal, and the rewards of doing so are incredibly bountiful! I implore your to
Hopefully this article has given you a few things to think about when it comes to optimising your sleep hygiene, and starting to prioritise your sleep for the right reasons! If you’re interesting in analysing your sleep habits in more detail, and want to make an investment, then I personally recommend Oura. I’ve had mine for a couple of years and I’m a huge advocate. It gives excellent feedback and insight, and has really altered the way I think about sleep, and how it influences my training, and the other way round!
Thanks for reading, if it sparks any questions then feel free to get in touch via the email prperformance@hotmail.com, or via our social platforms @_prperformance.
Or better yet, if you’re ready to step up and gain the holistic support guaranteed to take your performance to new heights, then click here, pop in your details, and start the conversation.
