Adolescents require close to nine to ten hours of sleep each night; realistically, most don't get it. Statistically, half of teens claim to feel tired all day. In fact, with school and athletic workloads, a young athlete might get even less sleep than their peers. The research estimates that 70%-89% of teens get inadequate sleep.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, teens should get somewhere around 9-10 hours a night, although many are now reporting on average, 7 hours of sleep. To help young athletes get a good night's rest and play their best, the athlete’s guild offers five reasons sleep is key to a good game, plus five ways to sleep better.
5 Ways Sleep Impacts Athletic Performance
Increased sleep significantly improves the accuracy and reaction times of athletes. For example, a recent study showed that with extended sleep, there was a 9% improvement in the free throw and 3-point accuracy for college men's basketball players, in addition to better sprint speed and reaction times.
Similarly, among college women's tennis players, better sleep was related to better match scores and improved serving accuracy from 36% to 42%. Swimmers also benefited, with one study showing a 17% improvement in reaction times off the start block.
The other area in which sleep has a vital role is endurance. A decrease in the quality of sleep generally makes athletes reach states of exhaustion more easily and perceive their physical efforts as more exhausting. On the other hand, good sleep increases glucose metabolism to provide more energy and a better mood. Both are needed for prolonged athletic performance.
Nine to ten hours of continuous sleep significantly improves motor memory and cognitive function. This amount of sleep allows for the development of the muscle memory necessary to hold onto techniques for which athletes train. More sleep also improves reaction times, coordination, and the split-second decision-making that is necessary for top athletic performance in sports.
This directly impacts sleep's role in injury risk and recovery speed. Deep sleep is the time that human growth hormone, necessary for tissue repair and growth of muscles and bones, is secreted. Besides, sleep reduces levels of cortisol also called the "stress hormone", It means fewer illnesses and faster recovery time, so that athletes can continue performing at high levels.
Therefore, good sleep comes in handy in terms of overall performance, even at a professional level. A study of professional baseball players in Major League Baseball indicated that the well-rested players had significantly better strike zone judgment.
Another such study discovered that while 72% of the well-rested players were still playing professionally three years later, only 14% of sleep-deprived players remained in the league. It has also been seen to decrease time to exhaustion by as much as 10%, as revealed among professional cyclists, which would be even more of a factor in younger athletes.
5 Strategies for Better Sleep
A good sleep routine is important for every athlete. Stereotypomotor behavior, a sense of circadian rhythm, is developed by going to bed and waking up at the same time every day.
One has to provide a dark, cool, quiet sleep environment, and an hour before sleeping, a person should avoid screens because blue light slows melatonin production. Keeping technology out of teen bedrooms is equally important. More than one-third report checking their phone in the middle of the night, which disrupts healthy sleep cycles.
Relaxation is promoted by participating in a non-stimulating, calm activity for 30-60 minutes before going to bed. It is also important not to drink caffeine after 2 pm and not to take nicotine at all if possible, which is an even greater stimulant than caffeine.
The same sleeping patterns can be acquired through consistency in practice times. As much as possible, practices should be done at the same time each day. Also, neither early morning practices nor late evening practices, especially those that are going to interfere with sleeping, should be performed. If necessary, early morning practice can easily be eliminated instead of eliminating quality sleep.
Sleep quality requires adjustment to travel. Traveling east puts more stress on the body due to inherent circadian rhythms than traveling west. Allowing a day for adjustment for each time zone crossed, before arrival, and making adjustments in practice timing before travel may help the athlete to adjust more easily.
Keeping sleep strategies natural is the key. Avoid prescription sleep medications due to the potential for addiction without solid evidence supporting their efficacy. Similarly, antihistamines have no established value for improving athletic performance or inducing sleep.
Patients should avoid melatonin without consulting a health care provider; although it may be effective in particular situations for short-term use, it is not an effective technique to help individuals sleep. Getting 30 to 40 minutes of natural light on waking helps to reset circadian rhythms and promotes good sleep.
However, napping can be a last resort if getting good sleep at night isn't possible. Allowing your child to sleep in on weekends may help them pay off some of that sleep debt, which is incurred during the week.
Sometimes this cannot be avoided because school simply starts too early and practices are way too late. Napping for 20 minutes to two hours may provide more rest while avoiding post-nap grogginess because the naps end before entry into the slow-wave sleep stage, thus fitting neatly into the natural sleep cycles.
Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Athletic Performance
Several studies show that there is a high correlation between quality of sleep and athletic performance in various sporting events. Poor sleep impairs endurance through the reduction of pre-exercise muscle glycogen and augmentation of perceived exertion.
It is reported that, while sprint performance is relatively unaltered, athletes experience increased feelings of fatigue, confusion, and mood. It's the inclusion, therefore, of athletic performance using remarks that stretch back as far as reaction times and accuracy to endurance and injury recovery.
In particular, for young athletic development they require enough rest to reach their full potential on the playing field. Quality sleep amid the demands of school and sports could very well be what makes all the difference in performance and general well-being.
The Athlete's Guild serves as a holistic support system for young athletes aspiring to greatness. The Guild takes sleep seriously and, provides individualized sleep strategies to ensure each young athlete gets enough rest for optimal performance. Explore our detailed research on Elevating Baseball Performance: The Role of Strength and Conditioning
From personalized sleep plans to resources on keeping a consistent sleep schedule and sleep environment optimization, The Athlete's Guild has worked hard to support the peak performance of young athletes.
On the other hand, sports requiring precision, such as tennis, golf, and darts, reveal a strongly positive relationship between the amount of sleep and accuracy; sleep deprivation disrupts reaction times. Also, sleep has an impact on important cognitive functions related to learning and performance: no or little sleep will hamper skills acquisition and flexible thinking, hence athletic capacity.