One thing that sets elite athletes apart from regular athletes is the set of habits and rules they follow. When isolated, these rules may seem very simple and insignificant, but they play a prominent role in forming what we know as their successful journey. And following these habits could be an effective way to take you to the path of success, you know. While you may not be able to copy everything as an elite athlete does it, sleeping habits are indeed on the coverable territory. As you can guess, sleep for athletes is very important.
Nevertheless, depending on their event, amount of practice, and other schedules, every athlete may have figured out how much sleep athletes need and customized the same as per their needs. In the grand scheme of things, you cannot deny this aspect. Even then, it is not difficult to find a few common factors that link the sleeping habits of elite athletes. In this article, we have tried to answer some of the questions you may have in this department. We are sure these answers will help you form sleeping habits inspired by those.
A Note on Health
Please note that merely following the sleeping habits of elite athletes does not make you a better athlete in a day or two. Instead, the idea is to understand the core idea of what sleeping habits mean to you. You may have to, for instance, form a routine that provides you a good amount of sleep. Otherwise, you may have to control the proportion between work and sleep. Therefore, make sure that you contextualize these sleeping habits to achieve the best results.
On Athletic Performance and Sleep
Scientific research has proven that there is a strong relationship between getting the right amount of sleep and optimal athletic performance. We do not want to get too technical here. This is the point: it is difficult to perform at your best level if you do not regular and healthy sleep. Now, getting regular sleep is a relatively easy thing for most people.
The real challenging part is ensuring that you get a sufficient time of deep sleep as well. For ordinary people, though, missing a few days’ deep sleep is a repairable affair. Of course, there will be some dip in performance and concentration, but that can be made up. On the other hand, an athlete, especially an elite athlete, cannot take this risk since that would also mean risking their ideal performance on a momentous day.
Now, you probably understand why elite athletes follow a rather strict routine. And a routine could be the first and the foremost thing that distinguishes the sleeping habits of elite athletes.
Building a Routine
If you ask an elite athlete how much sleep do they get every day, they will have a specific answer to tell you. However, this may not be the case for many professionals who get flexible hours of sleep per day. Again, the reason is very simple. Athletes have to design an effective routine that puts healthy sleep in a prime position of their life.
Given that the right amount of sleep can provide advantages like better accuracy and resistance towards injuries, athletes cannot compromise the quality or quantity of the sleep. This is where the routine comes to play. The routine, often suggested by physicians and sleep experts, is also designed to teach a few things to the body clock. After a few weeks, the biological clock of the human body optimizes itself to adjust itself.
You can also notice that many popular athletes are early birds to bed. Again, there are a couple of reasons. First, research has found that training in the early morning is a great way to enhance control over the human body and improve the results. Second, the routine mentioned above works better when the body is designed to wake up at a specific time, every single day.
It is worth noting that athletes may also depend on several techniques, like CBD to improve sleep quality.
How Much Sleep Do Athletes Need?
As you can guess, there is no single answer to this question. The answer depends on a number of factors like the intensity of training and the athlete’s age. Even though you cannot replace sleep, you don’t have to fit into the 8-hour window all the time. Young athletes may be able to get fewer hours of sleep and still manage good health in the long run. However, athletes aged more than 35 have one thing in common: they try to get 8 or more hours of sleep every night.
Athletes outside this range are said to get anywhere between 6 to 8 hours of sleep without fail. However, it should be noted that the regularity of sleep must be maintained with the help of multiple factors. You can, for instance, get one of the best mattress setups, as InsideBedroom.com says. As you can imagine, a good pair of mattresses and accessories will make it easy for you to get the right amount of sleep. For one, elite athletes from almost every domain can afford one of those setups.
The Bottom Line
We don’t mean to say that consistent and quality-rich sleep alone can provide advantages to elite athletes. To reach that stage, the athletes have to combine a good night’s rest with a number of factors such as healthy diets and good mental health. And, if you are wondering, these things work as a cycle. For instance, you can have proper mental health and ensure a good amount of sleep when you eat and work out right. There are also some impacts in a vice-versa direction.
Additional resources:
- For expert advice on athletic performance, go Team ROI
- What to learn from the Olympic focus on mental health
