How Athletes Can Up Their Game By Simply Getting More Sleep

Athletes need extra sleep to help their bodies recover from the stresses of training so they can continue to perform at their best. REM sleep which provides energy to the brain and body is particularly important for enabling this recovery.

For professional athletes, better performance often translates into making more money. Therefore, athletes should definitely consider how the quality and amount of sleep they get might be affecting their performance.  

Some top athletes are in fact taking sleeping seriously. For example, LeBron James and Roger Federer, both world-renowned athletes, are known to sleep ten to 12 hours per day. Tennis star, Serena Williams, reports going to bed by 7 p.m. to get adequate sleep.

Considering most people function best getting seven to eight hours of sleep per night, athletes need at least an extra hour if not more. If it’s not possible to get extra sleep during the night, fitting a nap in during the day can offer significant health benefits. Here are the top reasons why sleep makes you a better athlete.

1. Helps the Body Replenish Energy Stores. Not getting enough sleep can decrease the production of carbohydrates and glycogen, the fuel the body stores for energy use during exercise. Depleted energy stores lead to a lower energy output, a shorter time to reach fatigue, poor concentration during physical activity, and a slower recovery time.
2.  Supports Good Judgement and Learning Skills. Research shows that memory function, focusing ability, motivation, and learning are each impaired by getting inadequate sleep. The brain relies on sleep to consolidate memory and process new knowledge.
3. Improves Reaction Times. Athletes typically need to react fast in their sport and can’t afford to have slow reactivity due to poor sleep. Studies show that being mildly tired due to a lack of sleep can impair reaction times just as much as or more than being legally intoxicated, and missing one night of sleep can impede reaction times by over 300%.
4. Enhances Skill Accuracy. Research studies involving basketball players, weightlifters, swimmers, tennis players, and other athletes all confirm that adequate sleep is necessary for achieving optimal athletic performance. These studies focused on extending the hours of sleep athletes normally receive (up to 10 hours in total). They concluded that several measures of sports performance such as accuracy and reaction times dramatically improved after more extended sleep periods.
5. Lengthens Sports Careers. Sleep deprivation not only leaves the body prone to sustaining injuries and increases the time it takes to heal, but it also reduces the longevity of athletes’ careers. One study involving major league baseball players showed that there is a direct relationship between fatigue and the length of playing career. Essentially, being chronically tired reduces sports performance thus leading to a shorter playing career.  

Considering the amount of research devoted to studying sleep’s effects on athletic performance and the results that prove how valuable sleep is for peak performance, all athletes should consider getting good sleep a priority. Sleep is required for athletes to develop skills, stay injury-free, perform their best, and stay active in their sports careers for longer.

source https://goodmorningsnoresolution.com/blogs/news/how-athletes-can-up-their-game-by-simply-getting-more-sleep

5 Ways to Trick Yourself Into Getting a Better Night's Sleep

Are sleep troubles disrupting your life? Do you feel anxious when it’s time to hit the pillow and toss and turn late into the night?

You are not alone considering one in three people suffer from at least mild insomnia. To make matters worse, people who don’t sleep well have often developed poor sleep habits. Many people struggle with sleep problems and are searching for real strategies that help manage the issue.

Sleep is vital to health as most of us know, but how can we get more sleep when it feels like an impossible task? Here are 5 proven strategies you can use to trick your mind and body into getting a better night’s sleep.

1. Try to Stay Awake

Research conducted on people with insomnia shows that using reverse psychology can indeed help people fall asleep. Out of two groups of insomniacs, one was told to try to stay awake but not allowed to watch TV or move around, and the other was not given any instruction. The group that focused on trying to stay awake actually went to sleep faster.  

Here’s how to use reverse psychology on yourself when you need to sleep. Try keeping your eyes open and repeatedly saying to yourself “I will not sleep.” Because the brain fails to process negative instructions well, it interprets this message as an order to sleep. Focus your mind on staying awake until your eyes eventually tire and you find yourself falling asleep.

2. Apply Acupressure Techniques

Acupressure is similar to acupuncture and based on traditional Chinese medicine philosophy which uses the application of pressure to specific parts of the body to help induce sleep.

Use your fingers to gently press and massage the following points for 10 to 15 minutes to help the body prepare for sleep: The point just below the ball of the foot, the indent between the top of the eyebrows and nose, and behind the ear in the soft tissues where the neck muscles connect to the jaw line.

3. Use the 4-7-8 Technique

Holistic practitioner Dr. Andrew Weil invented this simple yet effective breathing technique.

To start, place your tongue gently on the ridge of your mouth in the area right behind the front teeth. Next, exhale fully and quietly breathe in through the nose over a four second period, hold it for seven seconds, and then using a “whoosh” sound exhale air outwards over an eight second period. This process should be repeated at least three times.

This technique helps to induce sleep by delivering more oxygen than regular breathing does to the parasympathetic nervous system which suffers from overstimulation during stressful times. Additionally, counting at a regular interval diverts the mind from the day’s stressors.

4. Find Your Own Trigger to Help You Sleep

Professional hypnotherapist, Sharon Stiles, recommends using a relaxing and unusual habit such as stroking your cheek or gently massaging your forehead to help your body recognize it’s time to sleep.

Use your habit when you are starting to feel sleepy, and you will eventually teach the body to associate it with preparing for sleep. Just remember to completely focus your attention on what you are doing when trying this technique, and remember it takes several nights of repetition for it to become a habit to your body.   

5. Squeeze and Relax Your Muscles

Relaxing your entire body helps prepare the body for sleep. Lie on your back and inhale slowly through your nose while at the same time squeezing the muscles in a specific part of your body. Start working with the muscles in your feet and continue working a variety of muscle groups until you have worked the entire way up the body to your head. Remain focused on your breathing while you perform this exercise, and by the end of your session you should be relaxed and feeling ready to sleep.

source https://goodmorningsnoresolution.com/blogs/news/5-ways-to-trick-yourself-into-getting-a-better-nights-sleep