Athletes and Sleep

Written by Katie Harris, Content Writer

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Here at Sleep Advisor, our editorial team utilizes reputable sources and expert feedback to provide well-researched sleep health content. For more details, read our full editorial policy.

Professional athletes always seem to be touting their new and often expensive methods to increase performance and extend their prime. If you’re someone who is looking to improve your own performance, these tips have likely sparked your interest. However, more and more research is pointing to the idea that the best method to increase performance is actually much simpler: better sleep.

Though it may seem easy enough, numerous factors can hinder a person’s ability to get a good night’s rest. That’s why we put together some tips you can use to improve your performance through rest, along with the science behind how sleep can boost athletic performance.

Dr. Raj Discusses the Importance of Sleep for Athletes

Why Is Sleep Important For Athletes?

The amount and quality of sleep athletes get can impact their bodies, performance, and perceived effort.¹Sleep is also recognized as the most important route to an athlete’s physical and mental recovery.²

Sleep plays such a vital role for athletes that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) now

considers it a major component of athletic performance and mental health. Also, the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) incorporated the importance of sleep health in an official position statement and their mental health best practices for college athletes.¹

Are you an athlete shopping for a bed? Explore our tested picks for the best mattresses for athletes.

Endurance

Quality sleep can improve glucose metabolism, giving athletes more energy.³This helps them endure prolonged activity, especially when they’re fatigued. Conversely, when athletes practice or compete on too little sleep, the perceived effort it takes to perform is seen as much greater, and they feel tired sooner.²

An athlete’s endurance is also closely associated with their cardiovascular health, and heart health is intertwined with sleep. Columbia University research found that poor sleeping habits can lead to craving foods high in saturated fats and sugar, which are not good for heart health.⁴

Sprint Strength

Athletes often need to use explosive power, and the stronger their sprint strength, the more force they can apply to the ground. Stanford University men’s basketball players participating in a study about the effects of sleep on athletic performance were instructed to increase their sleep duration.⁵What they found was that those who slept at least 10 hours a night ran faster mid-court and full-court sprints.

Accuracy/Reaction Time

How fast an athlete reacts to an external signal, such as the sound from a starter gun, is their reaction time. Those who react more quickly have an advantage. Swimmers who slept 10 hours a night saw improved reaction times off their diving block and faster turn times.⁶

Athletes also rely on their accuracy to control movement to a specific target or intensity. Serve accuracy increased significantly for tennis players who slept nine hours a night.⁷

Mental Acuity

Physical ability is often at the forefront of our minds when we think of athletes. However, sports require mental acuity, and lack of sleep has been shown to decrease the high-cognition motor skills needed by handball goalkeepers and tennis players.²

How Does Sleep Help with Athletic Recovery?

No matter how much time you spend lifting weights or counting calories, you won’t see much results without proper rest.

While exercise tears down muscle, having enough protein and high-quality sleep rebuilds it.⁸This process is especially important for athletes trying to build muscle mass.

There are four sleep stages in a sleep cycle, and we typically go through multiple cycles each night. However, muscle repair and hormone production can be cut short when the body can’t properly cycle through, making it harder to properly recover from all those hours at practice or in the gym.

Muscle repair occurs through a process called protein synthesis, which relies on a combination of diet, exercise, and sleep to build muscle.⁹ When athletes focus on protein and exercise but neglect their rest, they sabotage their own efforts.

Steady hormone production is an important part of protein synthesis. Studies show that the human growth hormone (HGH) is stimulated by sleep, among other things, so getting those seven to nine hours is essential.¹⁰

Sleep Advisor’s Lead Product Tester, Julia Forbes, was a collegiate volleyball player at Queens University and the University of North Carolina Charlotte, and we asked her what she learned about how sleep helped her recovery when she was playing at that level.

“Our trainers always encouraged us to get a full night’s rest in order for our muscles to recover after long practices, weightlifting sessions, and competitions. Otherwise, with the intensity and frequency of training, could lead to serious injury.” – Julia Forbes.

The Impact of Sleep on Athletic Performance

If you’ve ever felt like you were operating in slow motion after a restless night, you have first-hand experience of how sleep loss can affect your physical abilities. When it comes to athletes, quality sleep can help improve performance and lead to greater success.¹¹

According to Cheri Mah, a sleep researcher and consultant for the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, extended quality sleep can improve high-skill shots by up to 9 percent.¹²Sleep’s impact on athletes extends beyond their physical athletic abilities; it can also improve their mood and cognition.¹³

We also spoke with Nicole Hernandez, DPT, on how athletes can benefit from good sleep.

“Athletes benefit most from an individualized approach to sleep and recovery. But regardless of the level of athlete, adequate sleep supports training gains, competitive performance, and overall well-being. Without adequate rest and recovery, athletes are prone to overtraining, injury, and potentially sickness. These issues can significantly impact their training and personal or professional goals, especially if they’re actively in season or in competition.” – Nicole Hernandez

Lack of Sleep and Athletic Injuries

One study found that adequate sleep may reduce the risk of injury or general illness in athletes, as related to reaction time and cognitive performance.¹¹ The study goes on to reveal that this improved health could directly affect success, as more participation in practice and drills generally leads to improved performance.

When athletes get the recommended amount of sleep they can reap the following benefits:¹⁴

strengthen their immune system
have time to repair their bodies
better capability to train and improve

Despite the overwhelming benefits, many athletes do not sleep enough and expose themselves to more risk of injury through illness, fatigue, and decreased decision-making ability.

Similarly, young athletes may be exposed to an increased risk of musculoskeletal injury, lower baseline neurocognitive functioning, and prolonged recovery after a concussion.¹⁵

Sleep Tips for Athletes

Measure your sleep – People seem to lose sensitivity toward and recognition of their fatigue as they grow more sleep-deprived. Fatigue Science calls this “renorming,” as the longer we go without sleep, the more normal the sleepiness feels.¹⁶Using tools such as smartphone sleep analytics and the Stanford Sleepiness Scale, a self-rating scale that quantifies levels and changes of sleepiness at a given time, can account for errors in judgment and give you a good idea of where you stand.
Take naps – Naps are an effective way to catch up on your rest and feel more alert.¹⁷Just make sure your naps aren’t too late in the day or too long since this could make it harder to doze off at bedtime.
Don’t overtrain – Overtraining among athletes is associated with increased injury risk and poor sleep.¹⁸ Additional recovery time is required when athletes push their bodies to their extremes. Continuously tearing down muscle without giving the body time to synthesize protein and replenish hormones could result in excess fatigue¹⁸
Eat a healthy diet of protein and complex carbs – Research on the effects of nutrition and sleep in athletes suggests eating a combination of protein and complex carbs, such as peanut butter and toast, a few hours before bed.¹⁹This combination creates the amino acid, tryptophan, which increases sleepiness.
Avoid intensive exercise right before bed – A systematic review of research looked into the effects of nighttime exercise on sleep.²⁰ What they found was that evening exercise was helpful for sleep, but vigorous exercise, specifically within an hour of bed, could actually hinder sleep.
Maintain a regular sleep schedule – Sticking to a schedule will help hone your body’s internal clock, also known as a circadian rhythm. Our bodies are triggered by a variety of factors, including light, temperature, sound, and when we eat. The more we can regulate these elements into a routine, the easier it will be for our bodies to identify when it’s time to sleep, and when we should be awake.
Avoid alcohol and limit caffeine – While alcohol may help you initially doze off, studies suggest it can impair the quality of sleep you get, which means you may not be as well-rested.²¹Additionally, while avoiding caffeine before bed is common sense, even drinking it early in the day may impact your sleep. Experts say caffeine can stay in your system for as long as 10 hours.²²
Stretching and hydration – Julia told us that she focused on hydrating and doing some light stretching before bed to help relieve lactic acid buildup during her collegiate playing days. “I noticed that I wasn’t as sore the next day when I did this.” Check out our quick guide to hydrating before you go to sleep.

Athletes and Sleep FAQs

Do athletes need more sleep?

Just as athletes often need more calories than the average person to fuel their ability to exert so much energy, studies show that they may also need more rest.²³ You’re pushing your body in practice, so you understandably need more time to recover.

Younger adolescent athletes will likely need the most sleep to account for their physical growth, brain development, and hormonal balances. The Gatorade Sports Science Institute recommends that adolescents get over nine hours per night. ²³

Explore our picks: Best Mattress for Athletes
Learn more: 11 Tips to Improve Sleep Quality

Are there differences between men and women in athletics and sleep?

Harvard Medical School has done some research into how the differences in male and female athletes relate to injury, and they say that women are more likely to experience sports injuries than men.²⁴

The reasoning behind this claim has to do with both the way women play and the way they are built. Research shows ankle sprains, stress fractures, shoulder trouble, knee injuries, and plantar fasciitis are more likely to occur among women in athletics than men.

Plus, research shows that women are 1.3 to 1.8 times more likely to develop insomnia than men.²⁵ With that in mind, it makes sense that they’re also more prone to injury given the increased likelihood of sleep deprivation.

Are there differences in sleep needs between sports?

Sleep is especially important for sports that require high performance in accuracy, speed, decision-making, and career length. For example, basketball, soccer, and football each require fast reaction times, good decision-making, and accuracy. Tennis also requires exceptionally fast reaction time and decision-making.

Most sports require at least one or a combination of these elements, and sleep is shown to be an important factor in their successful performance.

Can you increase HGH naturally with sleep?

While human growth hormone (HGH) supplements are illegal in competitive sports, many athletes look for natural ways to increase the production of this vital hormone.²⁶ HGH boosts protein production, regulates fat storage, and is responsible for a variety of important functions including the growth of muscle, bone, and collagen, according to Harvard Medical School.²⁷
The best organic way to boost the production of HGH is through sleep, a good diet, and exercise. ²⁸

Our Final Thoughts

While sleep is important for everyone, it’s absolutely essential for athletes. Sleep provides the necessary repairs to the muscles that were broken down during training and clears the brain of all unnecessary material, allowing cognitive function to increase. Accounting for improvement in a wide range of performance measures, it’s not surprising that professional teams everywhere are turning back to the simplest of techniques to get an edge on the competition.

The Advisor Says

Superstar athletes such as Lebron James, Christiano Ronaldo, and Simone Biles prioritize their rest by getting 8-12 hours of sleep every day. Although you may not be a world-class champion, you can model their dedication to sleep to improve your 5K time, your pickleball ranking, or your overall health.

Katie Harris

Content Writer

About Author

Katie writes content at Sleep Advisor, where she has finally found people who appreciate her true passion for sleep. Based in Austin, Texas, she graduated with a degree in Communications and enjoys combining creativity with research to improve the world’s sleep, starting with her sleepwalking husband.

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