How Athletes Can Improve Their Performance Due to Sleep

Athletes do everything in their power in order to pursue their athletic goals. This includes working out daily, eating healthier, and cutting out the majority of their social life in order to focus on the sport. Little do they know, one small step with improving their performance would be sleeping. David Geier, MD, an orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist in Charleston, studied how sleep could improve a person's performance. He believed that sleep was crucial for athletes. Sleep helps the body relax by letting the brain rest, and your body heal itself. David Geter found out that athletes need more sleep because they push their bodies to the extreme during practice. More sleep allows the body to recover and prepare itself for the next day. Research shows that taking a nap during the afternoon and sleeping an hour extra will produce a better performance.

Felicia Stoler, an exercise physiologist and registered dietitian in New jersey, agreed with Geiers work. “ Sleep is the time when your body repairs itself,” she says. “ If we don’t get enough sleep, we don’t perform well.” Studies have found evidence that sleeping more benefits athletes. One study tracked the Stanford University basketball team for many months. The players slept for almost two more hours than usual. The results were an increase in speed by five percent. The players free throws were nine percent more accurate. They even felt happier and reflexes were faster. Other studies that showed similar benefits in the personal performance played either football, soccer, or baseball.

Lack of sleep has been shown to correspond with injuries during an athletic event. A University of California study proved that injury rates are increased for the players that slept for less than six hours. There was another study that was looking at the injury rates of high school athletes, studies found that the hours of sleep the athlete had received were actually less than the hours of practice. When the athlete is fatigued after having a short amount of sleep, they react slower than usual. According to Harvard Medical School’s Division of Sleep Medicine, “Sleep deprivation has an impact comparable to intoxication by alcohol, which for athletes can have a major impact on their game”. Your reaction time will slow down and cause you to perform poorly. “being awake for 22 hours straight can slow your reaction time more than four drinks can.”

A study by Mah investigated the effect of sleep extension on the athletic performance of eleven college basketball players. The total sleep time duration of the athletes showed a significant improvement by 110 minutes from their original baseline due to the sleep extension period. The results showed that an increased amount of sleep helped the players perform better and be more consistent. The players were more locked into the game and it seemed as if they were in control of what happened each possession. There was an increase in shooting percentage, mainly from the free throw line since the players were more rested and relaxed.

These studies prove the sleep plays a big role with performance. Choosing to stay up all night instead of giving your entire body rest, can have a negative result. All athletes should focus on letting their body reboot after a hard day of not just physical work, but mental work as well. The brain runs all day long. People are always thinking about something when they are awake which causes the brain to never get a break. The brain needs time to store and sort all information gathered in the present day. This lets the athletes remember the important things that matter and can help them later on in the future. Remembering small things like what hand does the person dribble or throw with can help the player understand the game more. This will only be effective if the athlete receives enough sleep for the brain to process the information.

Athletes unfortunately don't receive enough time to sleep a great number of hours at once. They may either be in school, or at work so the goal of nine hours may not be reached. Scientist agreed that naps could also count towards the needed hours of rest. Busy schedules interfere with sleep and cause people to forget that they need sleep. In order for a person's body to perform at its highest level, sleep is needed. Studies show that athletes believe that watching films and staying up all night will help them improve their game. Athletes that tend to use this form of preparation does not perform as well as the ones who focus on gaining rest.

Sleep is the foundation of recovery and critical to the management of athletic training regimens. Sleep is often ignored and compromised by athletes as a result of their busy schedules, other demands such as work and school, and most importantly by the intrusion of technology (cell phones, computers and tablets) into their life. This technology inhibits normal sleep physiology and fosters a heightened state of arousal, which acts as a barrier to the onset and maintenance of the sleep state. Understanding the actual sleep behaviours of athletes, how sleep parameters affect training and performance, and the impact of specific interventions on sleep and performance is important.

“Researchers speculate that deep sleep helps improve athletic performance because this is the time when growth hormone is released. Growth hormone stimulates muscle growth and repair, bone building and fat burning, and helps athletes recover. Studies show that sleep deprivation slows the release of growth hormone. Sleep is also necessary for learning a new skill, so this phase of sleep may be critical for some athletes.” Sleeping can help the bones get bigger after a good workout and it helps the athlete lose weight. Researchers agreed that sleeping can help athletes remember new material. Athletes should take this into effect immediately and instead of worrying about social media, repair the body and get some rest.

In conclusion, athletes that are well rested, perform better. Sleep is a recovery stage that athletes need to perform at the highest peak. Rest can be hard to recieve for athletes, but hourly naps throughout the day can result in a great performance as well. After any hard conditioning or workout, the body needs time to relax and collect data. Collecting data and separating it takes time and most athletes don't have time. Coaches should push their players to sleep more and cut technologie hours short. The result will remain positive if practiced.