Catching Some Z’s: 

How Good Sleep Habits Can Improve Your Performance

Athletic Trainer Forum

Kate Richardson, Amy Harrison, and Sean Huffman

As walkers and runners, you have likely gone through the routine of picking a race and planning your training session.  You start training several weeks prior to your goal race and carefully plan time to get your miles in, along with strength training, cross training, and rest days.  While all these activities play a large role in your success on race day, you may be neglecting one key piece of the puzzle that can boost your training and improve performance:  sleep.

You may have heard that it is normal for athletes, even elite marathoners, to experience a less than ideal night of sleep before a big competition.  Luckily, if you are regularly getting enough sleep, one night of poor sleep will not negatively impact how you perform on race day.  However, after several poor nights of sleep in a row, you will start to feel the signs of sleep deprivation, including decreased alertness and reaction time, needing an alarm clock to wake up, feeling sluggish in the afternoons, and impaired concentration and memory.  This can translate to feeling fatigued sooner during a run, or possibly more exhausted after.  You may even struggle to get out the door because of low motivation.  The cognitive effects of poor sleep do not stop there.  You may find it harder to focus during a workout when you are tired and as a result, you will not get the full benefit of the workout.

While the mental benefits of a good night’s rest are important, sleep is vital for keeping your body physically strong and healthy.  Research shows that when we fall short of the recommended amount of sleep, our bodies are not able to fully recover and rebuild our muscle tissue, leading to an increased risk of injury.  During deep sleep, human growth hormone is released and aids in tissue repair and recovery, something that all athletes need to stay healthy, get stronger, and keep up with the demands of training.  Research has also shown that sticking to a sleep routine can lead to increased muscle strength, aerobic capacity, and overall improvement in sport-specific skills.

Finally, better nutrition can help fuel us for a better performance, but our nutritional choices can change when we are sleep deprived.  When we fall short of a good night’s sleep, our body increases production of the hormone that stimulates our appetite and decreases the hormone that tells us when we are full.  Eventually, overeating and making poor food choices will add up and affect how we feel during training.

So how many hours should you aim to sleep each night?  The National Sleep Foundation recommends adults sleep between seven and nine hours per night.  If you are falling short of the recommended amount, try one or more of the following strategies to improve your sleep quality:

• Keep a sleep diary. You can make this part of your training log
• Set a bedtime and wake time schedule and stick to it
• Make your bedroom quiet, cool, dark, and comfortable
• Avoid blue light from electronics at least one hour prior to bedtime
• Limit caffeine intake after lunch and avoid heavy meals before bedtime.

Most people have some room for improvement in terms of the quality and amount of sleep they experience each night.  So, while you are in the middle of your training cycle, it is never too late to implement one or more of these strategies.  Take note of how you feel in the days that follow, and do not underestimate the power of a good night’s sleep!

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