Sleep, The Natural Performance Enhancer

At our recent LFSC Olympic Pride Training Camp several team meetings and small group discussions were held. We are providing a summary of these Team Meetings for all of our swimmers.

Here’s Team Meeting #1 – “Recovery Methods: Sleep”, Coach Michael

The most important recovery method is what?

If you said warm down, water, Power Bars, Gatorade, massage, or stretching are close. If you said skip practice you are waaaay off the mark! The most important recovery method is the one you probably skip most often.

Sleep.

That’s right, your parents aren’t kidding you, sleep is the best thing for helping you maximize your abilities in anything. Research and practical experience tells us that both academic and athletic performance improve with sleep. But don’t just take my word for it . . . here’s some information and advice from a recent presentation to coaches by Shirin Shafazand, MD, MS, FCCP, D.ABSM (Assistant Professor of Medicine, Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicane, University of Miami).

Sleep Is The Natural Performance Enhancer

Normal Sleep has 3 distinct states of consciousness: waking, Non-REM sleep (Stages 1, 2, 3, 4) and REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. Non-REM sleep accounts for 75-80% of total sleep time while REM sleep time accounts for 20-25% of total sleep time. There are usually 4-6 90-minute cycles of NREM-REM sleep each night.

Sleep effects cognitive performance, growth, healing, immune function, cardiopulmonary function and metabolic functions. REM sleep seems to be important for consolidation of memory. Stage 2 (non-REM sleep) is important for learning motor skills.

Sleep Deprivation

When a person has remained awake for periods of 24 hours the ability to perform relatively basic mathematic problem solving and memory skills will diminish by over 20%. (Comment-- Stop pulling all-nighters! It won’t help you remember what you are studying!)

Prolonged Wakefulness Biology

What are the effects of prolonged sleep deprivation? Here are a few:

Impaired neurobehavioral function, reduced growth hormones, increased expenditure, reduced wound healing. (Comment—you don’t have to be a doctor or research scientist to see that nothing but negative words are associated with lack of sleep).

What are the effects on athletic performance? Try these:

Reduced motor learning, impaired visual and auditory reaction times, impaired glycogen storage, decreased aerobic endurance, impaired tissue recovery, exaggerated belief in fatigue. (Comment—see any good things on this list?).

To Be Competitive, Sleep

A sleep study on men and women swimmers at Stanford University showed an increase in 15-meter swim time (0.51 seconds), faster starting block reaction times (0.15 seconds), and improved turn times (0.10 seconds) after increasing daily sleep time for several weeks. The study also showed general improvement in daily moods, lower fatigue ratings and higher ratings of vigor.

To Sleep, Perchance To Dream

Your best recovery method is the one that most affects your general health, sleep. You can be a better student AND a better athlete with 8-10 hours of daily sleep. And you will be more pleasant to be around!

      Make sleep a part of your regular training regimen

      Extend nightly sleep for several weeks prior to competition

      Keep a regular sleep schedule

      Take a daily (30 minute) nap, especially if drowsy

So there you have it . . . now get some sleep . . . your Mother is right!

To get a copy of these handouts see Coach Mo or Coach Michael.

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Copyright, 2010, Michael Lawrence. All rights reserved. No republication permitted without the express prior consent of the owner.