Sleep and Athletic Performance – “Optimising your Availability to Train”
by George Blackwell
Numerous studies on team and individual sports have demonstrated that success in competition has a strong relationship with increased sleep duration and quality. Ground-breaking news, right?...
Despite this appearing so obvious, I thought I’d break down some of the reasons why this is the case, as highlighted by Andrew Watson's 2017 review on research surrounding sleep and all aspects of performance.
One of the largest determinants in athletic success is being ‘available to train’ as much as possible. The most common barriers to this are injuries and illness. The evidence available suggests that impaired sleep is associated with increased risk of injury, with a study of middle and high school athletes (Milewski, 2014) finding that those individuals who slept less than 8 h per night on average were 70% more likely to report an injury than those who slept more than 8 h. The mechanisms behind this relationship haven’t been identified clearly, but it’s thought to be related to reduced recovery. The latter leads to higher levels of cumulative fatigue and, therefore, increases the risk of inappropriate acute and chronic training loads.
Decreased sleep has also been shown to be immunosuppressive, especially in relation to upper respiratory illnesses such as coughs and colds. These often lead to a compromised quality of training or to complete rest being prescribed. In a study of 154 adult men and women, Shochat et al (2014) monitored sleep duration and efficiency over a 14-day period. Those individuals who slept less than 7 h a day were nearly three times as likely to develop an infection, compared with those who slept 8 h or more.
It's easy to review the evidence and recommend sleeping an extra hour or two a night, but there are significant barriers to getting the recommended amount of sleep, particularly for athletes. Watson’s review took note of the sociocultural influences on athletes in respect to their sleep. In certain sporting cultures, the ability to function on minimal sleep is idolised and training sessions will often be at extremely unsociable hours. I feel this influence translates to the common ‘Age-Group’ athlete or ultra-runner, where training sessions are being squeezed in around work and other life commitments, often sacrificing sleep as a consequence.
Some recommendations to improve the quality and duration of your sleep to keep you fit, healthy and ready to get stuck into training are as follows:
Environment: Do your best to create an optimal sleeping environment. This means a cool temperature, complete darkness, and minimal ambient noise and distraction. This has been shown to improve the overall quality of the sleep you’re getting.
Stress: Try to avoid stressful / mentally stimulating activities late at night. This could be working late or doing late evening training sessions, both of which have been shown to make it more challenging to get to sleep, as well as reducing sleep quality.
Consistency: Establish consistent sleep and wake times to help your body clock to know when it’s time to get to bed and make falling asleep at an appropriate time in the evening easier. Creating a consistent routine to help you unwind, in addition to the above tips, is a good way to help facilitate this.
References:
Milewski MD, Skaggs DL, Bishop GA, et al. Chronic lack of sleep is associated with increased sports injuries in adolescent athletes. J. Pediatr. Orthop. 2014; 34:129–33.
Shochat, T., Cohen-Zion, M. and Tzischinsky, O., 2014. Functional consequences of inadequate sleep in adolescents: a systematic review. Sleep medicine reviews, 18(1), pp.75-87.
Watson, Andrew M. MD, MS. Sleep and Athletic Performance. Current Sports Medicine Reports 16(6):p 413-418, 11/12 2017. | DOI: 10.1249/JSR.0000000000000418