Sleep Will Make You a Better Athlete by Stephanie Shaw
[This is a guest blog by one of our Athletic Interns, Stephanie Shaw, an Exercise Science student from ECU]
Train, train, and train some more. This seems to be the motto these days for many elite athletes. It is easy to become consumed by your sport and think you have to train hard all day everyday, but when does your body have time to recover? Not enough people think about how important sleeping is for their body to be able to heal and perform at peak performance.
Having the optimal amount of sleep is very beneficial for performance, because your body naturally releases Human Growth Hormone (HGH) when in a deep sleep. HGH helps with not only metabolizing fat, but also with recovery and healing of the body. If you train all day every day without sufficient amounts of sleep, then your body will not recover and heal. If your body does not have enough time to heal, then training will not be nearly as beneficial, and you could also run the risk of hurting yourself and overtraining.
A study performed on 11 healthy athletes from the men’s basketball team at Stanford University showed that after increasing the amount of sleep of each athlete by around 110.9 minutes a night, their overall ratings of physical and mental well-being improved. Their speed during 282-foot sprints also improved from 16.2 seconds to 15.5 seconds and their shooting accuracy by 9% on free throws and three-point field goals.
Here are a few tips on how to help improve your sleep:
- Have the room completely dark (or as dark as possible) when going to bed.
- Try and have a regular sleeping schedule.
- Clear your head before going to bed. Write down any thoughts or things you have to do the next day.
- Avoid drinking any caffeinated beverages or alcohol before going to bed.
