In recent years we have realized that sleeping hours are an investment and not an expense. However, the daily chores, the stress of the routine and aspects related to sports such as the anxiety of competition prevent us from fully resting. How many hours does an athlete have to sleep? What can we do to reach that minimum number of hours?
More than 80% of scientific research on sleep and sports performance has been published in the last ten years. A very complete narrative review carried out by experts on the relationship between sleep and athletes shows us the consensus on everything related to this fascinating topic.
Us we will base on that review to prepare this article in which we will address the influence of sleep on athletes and some practical recommendations on the number of hours an athlete should rest and some strategies to improve sleep.
Sleep and athletes: a high performance relationship
Sleep is essential for the brain and the body. Much research shows how a single night of sleep greatly affects physical and mental health. Despite this, it is common for many athletes to not rest well the night before a sporting event, which can greatly impair athletic performance.
An good rest improves performance in strength and endurance tests, as well as allowing better results in other physical qualities such as coordination and agility, essential in most sports.
Therefore, it is advisable to avoid situations that negatively alter sleep, while promote behaviors that improve the quantity and quality of sleep. However, it is not always feasible for certain reasons such as work, family or any matter that requires our time or may affect our level of anxiety and stress.
It is common for athletes to sleep less than seven hours a day, and the rest of those hours is also not restful. If we talk about elite athletes, the figures are very worrying: between 50% and 78% experience sleep disturbancessuffering 25% from serious disorders.
Paradoxically, elite athletes are the ones who need to rest the most, but they are the ones who have the most problems to rest well. The high training loads At certain times of the season, travel and competition anxiety and stress are the specific risk factors for insufficient sleep in athletes.
How many hours of sleep are necessary?
Depending on our age, more or less hours of sleep may be necessary, regardless of its quality. Although a newborn needs to sleep between 14 – 17 hours every 24 hours, an older adult will be enough with 7 – 8 hours per day.
As a general recommendation, an adult needs to sleep between 7 – 9 hours each day. A deficit or a surplus of sleep will be counterproductive for the health of the general population as well as for the athletic performance of any person who practices physical activity.
We can see it in studies such as the one carried out with a group of cyclists and triathletes who used to sleep about 6.8 hours a night. They modified some behaviors that made him sleep an average of 8.4 hours of sleep per night, thus achieving better performance after only three days sleeping that extra time.
A minimum of eight hours of sleep a day seems to be recommended for people who train chronically. Sleeping less than that number of hours can be counterproductive to the health and performance of athletes.
Depending on the physical and psychological demands of training and competition, the number of hours of sleep required can be increased. Here the sensations of the person and the daily training load will come into play, being the general range of about 8 – 10 hours of sleep per day.
A sleeping toolbox
Respect circadian rhythms
Each one of us we have an internal biological clock that sets the time with the cycles of light and darkness. Depending on that internal time, our body will have a greater or lesser state of alertness and physical and mental activity.
Anything that alters our biological clock will cause when it’s time to go to sleep let’s not be prepared internally for it and insomnia appears. Melatonin is one of the sleep switches that will work better or worse depending on our regulation of the circadian rhythm.
If we go to sleep every day at a different time, our body will not have set time to go to bed. In elite athletes it often happens that they have to travel and even change the time zone, thus greatly altering our internal and external clock.
Surely it is not our case, so we will focus on set a time to go to bed and a time that we go to sleep. Doing it every day, even though it may be difficult at first, will train our internal clock to be very efficient when it comes to falling asleep.
carbohydrates and serotonin
Without going into the dilemma of eating carbohydrates at night or not, eat carbohydrate-rich meals one to two hours before going to sleep decreases the time needed to fall asleep. If we are athletes we need to consume carbohydrates, if we are not this option may not be as recommended.
Carbohydrate consumption releases serotonin, a neurotransmitter associated with sleep and wakefulness. With a high probability you have entered a sudden sleep after eating a plate of pasta. That is the goal of this strategy to reduce the time that passes until we fall asleep.
Caffeine to wake us up, not to sleep
Caffeine is present in many drinks and foods. Depending on our adaptation to this stimulant, we can consume it to a greater or lesser extent. Normal consumption of one or two coffees up to 16 hours before going to sleep can aggravate sleep problems.
A recent systematic review showed how caffeine increased the time it took from going to sleep to falling asleep. The efficiency and quality of sleep was also lower with excessive caffeine intake.
You also learn to sleep
Sleep education can increase sleep duration by 30-90 minutes, but those improvements are lost if they are not continually reinforced. If we do not know how many hours we have to sleep we will not be able to set goals.
We have already seen that an athlete needs a minimum of eight hours of sleep a day, and from then on depending on the workload and individual sensations. If it is impossible for us to reach that number of hours at night, adding a nap during the day will be a great idea.
Avoid stimulants well before bed, or drinks like alcohol that worsen the quality of sleep. Although we have commented on the benefits of carbohydrates a few hours before going to sleep, this meal should not be very copious: rice with eggs can be good, a pizza can be a bad idea.
Establish a routine that lets your body know you’re going to sleep. To do this, pull the “extra sleep time”, which is nothing more than add the time needed to fall asleep to the hours of sleep. If we aim to sleep eight hours and our bedtime routine takes one hour, we will have to start this routine nine hours before we wake up.
In that “extra time” turn off artificial lights, including mobile lights. Eliminate as many noises as you can and set a suitable temperature. You can incorporate a meditation somewhere in your room just before you go to bed.
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