Sleep
Sleep Facts
- A study was done where two groups of people were tested physically and cognitively. Individuals from group 1 had a good night sleep. While group 2 were all sleep deprived. It took the group that was sleep deprived 4 days with quality sleep before they were back on par (physically and cognitively) with the quality sleep group.
- According to a statement by the ex-head of performance at UAE Team Emirates, there is no point in even trying to be a professional athlete if you average less than 7 hours of sleep per night.
- Food, water, warmth, and sleep are the 4 essential pillars of basic human function.
- Sleep is when adaptations happen. Without adaptations, you do not get any faster.
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How This Relates to Endurance Sports
Optimising your fitness is done by using the time you have dedicated to training in the most effective way possible so your body can make adaptations.
That means during exercise and outside of exercise.
John Wakefield (current performance coach at Bora Hansgrohe) uses the analogy of a scar. If you constantly hit a wound it will continue to bleed and won’t adapt (repair itself). It needs time to rest so it can toughen up and repair itself. Its the same with training and sleep. If you don’t sleep enough your body won’t be given enough time to adapt to the stress it has been put under.
How Much Sleep do the Pro's Get
As mentioned above, 7 hours sleep is a minimum requirement on average for elite level athletes. The gold standard however is well known be to around 8 hours on average.
Obviously we aren’t all elite level athletes but the idea is simple and it applies to all endurance athletes. If you have the time, this could be an easy way for you to improve.
Note “on average”. It is unlikely every sleep you have will be 8 hours but matching efforts throughout your day with sleep is a good idea. After a hard day of training you may need 9 hours. Or after an easy day maybe 7 hours is all you need.
Sleep Tips - From the World No.1 Sleep Expert
Mathew Walker is known as the world number 1 sleep expert. Here are some of his suggestions for having a better sleep:
- No caffeine after midday.
Mathew said he completely avoids caffeine. This is because it stays in your system for hours after consumption. What people don’t realise is this has an impact on the quality of your sleep rather than the time you spend asleep.
Night time coffee drinkers have significantly less deep sleep than non-caffeine drinkers. Therefore their sleep quality is lower.
However, as endurance athletes we find avoiding coffee almost impossible.
Tim Podlogar (Bora Hansgrohe Nutritionist) suggested a lower intake of caffeine during regular training (an amount you are used to). And saving the high caffeine intake for races.
2. Light & Brightness
Your circadiun rhythm is a massive determining factor of your sleeping patterns. Primarily it is influenced by light. When your surroundings are bright lights you feel more awake. However, when it gets dark your brain is sent signals telling your body it is time to sleep.
In fact, imprisonment in a bright white room has been used as a form of torture as prisoners would not be able to sleep.
Therefore you should always make sure you sleep in a room that is as dark as possible.
For those of you who enjoy watching videos on your phone before bed. Try turning the screen off and just listening instead.
3. Temperature
Your core body temperature must decrease for you to get to sleep. Therefore sleeping in a cooler room will accelerate the process.
Other factors are largely individual. For example, pillow/mattress, food consumption before bed, time spent on your phone before bed…
Naps
Many athletes are known to include naps throughout their day. Especially when they have multiple training sessions (triathletes…).
A significant example is Eliud Kipchoge who regularly naps during the day.
However, for most people who aren’t putting their body under a full days worth of training stress this isn’t a good idea. Walker mentions if you nap for too long and wake up from an alarm, you risk waking up from deep sleep. This means for the rest of the day you will feel even more tired so instead he recommends just sleeping longer during the night.