A physician from Mayo Clinic has underscored the significance of sleep quality in relation to athletic performance, providing insights on how to enhance sleep and manage stress.
Dr. Amy Rantala, a specialist at Mayo Clinic, elaborates on the role of sleep in cognitive processing: "When you sleep, your brain processes all the information you've taken in during the day," she explains. "Sleep filters out and deletes some information, while storing other information in memory." She further adds that this process is instrumental in assimilating new skills or techniques learned throughout the day into an athlete's intuitive sports performance.
Sleep not only contributes to general health and wellbeing but also plays a pivotal role in optimal athletic performance and recovery. A study highlighted the impact of quality sleep on basketball players' performance. It revealed that lack of sleep could decrease their accuracy by fifty percent while ten or more hours of sleep could potentially increase it by ten percent. Several similar studies have indicated a correlation between improved sleep and enhanced accuracy and reaction times among athletes. As per a news release from Mayo Clinic, doctors generally advise nine to twelve hours of sleep for children, eight to ten hours for teenagers, and at least seven hours for adults to maintain optimal mental health and everyday performance.
Rantala stresses the importance of adequate sleep for teenage athletes due to changes in their natural sleep-wake cycle or circadian rhythm during these years. "Teens tend to stay up later at night and sleep later in the morning. That's why those early morning practices can play havoc with a teen's sleep reservoir and influence a student athlete's mental and physical health," she says.
Getting quality sleep can sometimes be challenging due to unhealthy habits, hectic lifestyle, or insomnia with stress often exacerbating these issues. Rantala suggests several strategies for managing stress which can significantly improve one's sleep quality. "Having a good support network of family, friends, coaches and teammates to talk with can help you cope with stress. If sleep still is elusive, consider counseling, which may include cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness, meditation and journaling," she advises.
The Mayo Clinic news release also suggests several simple lifestyle modifications that can contribute to better sleep and subsequently improve athletic performance. These include avoiding alcohol and caffeine before bedtime, maintaining a consistent sleep schedule, allowing at least thirty minutes without electronics before bed, and refraining from intense exercise close to bedtime.
