As an athlete, you carefully monitor your nutrition and prioritize physical activity—habits that are important for all of us. But how well have you been sleeping? If you’ve made a face while reading this, you’re not alone. Studies show that athletes have more daytime sleepiness, take longer to fall asleep, and have more disruptive sleep than the general population. And poor sleep habits, known as sleep hygiene, can contribute to this.
Athletes may need more sleep than non-active people in order to recover—you may need about 9 to 10 hours of sleep compared to the 7 to 9 hours that’s recommended for non-athletes. The authors of one study say there’s three pillars to health critical for athletic success: diet, exercise, and sleep. And neglecting one of them can have a negative effect on the others.
Athletes face unique challenges to sleep like travel and competition schedules, but there are some helpful strategies you can start using right away to improve your sleep hygiene, and get back in the game.
Understanding Sleep Hygiene for Athletes
You might be juggling rigid training schedules, frequent travel (hello jet lag), and unfamiliar sleeping environments. While you might thrive on the unpredictability of it all, this can make it harder to have healthy sleep habits, known as sleep hygiene. You want to create the best possible sleep conditions, so your body can recover and be at its best performance.
Sleep and exercise have a bidirectional relationship. This means they both affect each other. Exercise can make it easier to fall asleep, and getting quality sleep means your workouts are more effective and you recover easier.
The Science Behind Athletic Sleep and Performance
Getting a good night’s sleep is not only important for your overall health, it can have an impact on your performance. How well you sleep (or don’t) can affect your reaction time, mental sharpness, strength, and stamina. It can also make a big difference in your ability to think and process, like remembering plays or anticipating moves from an opponent.
Not getting enough sleep can lead to lower levels of your body’s glycogen stores, which can decrease exercise intensity and lead to fatigue. Sleep is also a period where your body is getting rid of toxins and releasing growth hormones. These hormones affect your emotions, help you form memories, and heal your body.
Core Sleep Hygiene Principles for Athletes
In the evening, after a big game or match, you may be posting and commenting frequently on social media. Or you might be feeling stress and anxiety about an upcoming event and find yourself tossing and turning. But there are plenty of things you can do to maximize your sleep, prepare your body for rest, and get the quality sleep you need to be at your best.
Keep a Consistent Sleep Schedule
Going to bed and waking up at the same time every day, even on weekends, helps to keep your circadian rhythm—your body’s internal 24-hour clock—on track. During competition season, this might feel harder to do. But being consistent will help to make your body’s circadian rhythm work better at telling you when it’s time to go to bed and when it’s time to wake up.
This will make it easier to stick to your sleep schedule, even with a changing environment. Signal your body it’s time for bed by having a regular routine and follow tasks in the same order. This might be taking a shower, brushing your teeth, and getting into pajamas.
Optimize Your Sleep Environment
The ideal sleep environment is cool, dark, and quiet. Set the thermostat to 60-67°F. This is the temperature range experts say helps you feel comfortable enough to fall asleep. A warm bath or shower before hitting the sheets helps cool your core body temperature and helps you fall asleep.
Wear earplugs and use an eye mask if your room doesn’t have room-darkening curtains. Use a white noise app to play on your phone, or bring a small white noise machine to the hotel.
Pre-Sleep Routines and Wind-Down Strategies
In addition to a regular routine of getting ready for bed, allow yourself time for relaxation. About 30-60 minutes before your bedtime, do some calming activities: Take a warm bath, dim your lights, and read a book or listen to relaxing music. Relaxation techniques like deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and visualization can not only help you sleep better, but can improve athletic performance.
Screens give off blue light which can interrupt your body’s natural wind down process. This includes making melatonin, which is a hormone that helps you feel sleepy. Put away your phone an hour or two before bed, or use your phone's dimmer or night light.
Nutrition and Timing for Athletic Sleep
Avoid caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine too close to bedtime. Drinking caffeine even 6 hours before bedtime can affect your sleep. Keep yourself hydrated to prevent fatigue and dehydration, especially when you’re training hard.
Eat nutritious foods on competition days with balanced meals and snacks. Stick to foods that are familiar to you, to avoid any digestion problems!
The timing of your dinner can also affect sleep by throwing off your circadian rhythm. Your body temperature naturally starts to lower before bed, and eating close to bedtime can affect metabolism and digestion.
Foods that contain tryptophan, melatonin or magnesium (like tart cherry juice, bananas, and nuts) can signal your body to feel sleepy. Eating proteins high in tryptophan like meats, seafood, and dairy, and high glycemic index carbohydrates in the evening after exercise can help you fall asleep faster.
Training and Exercise Timing
Try to avoid early morning or late night training sessions so your body can recover while you sleep. If that’s not possible, take a nap during the day, but keep it to under 30 minutes to avoid grogginess. Give yourself plenty of natural light exposure in the morning, by opening your curtains and getting out of bed as soon as your alarm goes off. Morning light helps to regulate circadian rhythm, while keeping things dim in the evening can signal your body it’s time for bed.
The time of day you exercise is important for quality sleep, but overtraining without adequate rest and recovery can affect you, too. You might notice you aren’t at peak performance and have more fatigue than usual if you’re in the middle of a particularly grueling training schedule. This is the time it’s crucial to prioritize your sleep.
Travel and Competition Sleep Strategies
Long trips or travel over time zones can disrupt your circadian rhythm. Pack earplugs and an eye mask, and start adjusting your bedtime several days before traveling to the new time zone.
Try a neck pillow or a Bear mini pillow for comfort and sleep on the plane. Stay hydrated and avoid caffeine and alcohol. If you’re arriving at night, stay awake and sleep once you get to your accommodation. You want to adjust your internal clock to the bedtime at your new destination. Sticking to your healthy sleep habits can help manage jet lag.
But no one’s perfect. Fortunately, research shows that sleep banking—getting extra sleep before you anticipate a night or two of poorer sleep—can strengthen performance, decrease anxiety, and improve your mood. One study found banking sleep for three nights led to improved endurance compared to normal or decreased sleep. You might do this by going to bed earlier, sleeping in on your off-days, or taking a 20–30 minute nap during the day.
Recovery and Injury Prevention Through Sleep
Getting enough sleep can help protect your body from injury, heal injuries faster if they do occur, and decrease the risk of concussions.
In the past, sleep was thought of as a period where your brain shuts off. But sleep is actually an active process. While your brain is technically resting, this is a time when your body is hard at work restoring and repairing itself. The deepest stage of sleep, the stage of sleep where it’s the hardest to wake up from, is where much of the restorative work happens. This includes building muscle and bone, repairing cells and tissues, and boosting your immune system. To feel and perform your best, you need to have enough of this deep, restorative sleep.
Implementing Your Personal Sleep Optimization Plan
Improving your sleep hygiene won’t happen all at once. But making small changes can gradually lead you towards long-lasting change for the better.
Look at your current sleep habits. Are you staying up too late, on your phone too much in bed, or can’t seem to relax enough to get your body to fall asleep? It might help to start with one change at a time. Choose your biggest sleeping issue and work on that first.
Using a sleep app or a wearable device that tracks your sleep can give you information about how well you’re sleeping. You can track your sleep schedule and note any symptoms you feel like fatigue or mood changes. This can be especially helpful if you need to get advice from a healthcare professional, or if you suspect you have a sleep condition like sleep apnea, where your breathing pauses many times throughout the night.
Peak Performance Through Optimized Rest
Think of sleep as a natural performance enhancer, rather than just recovery time. Having healthy sleep hygiene can set you up to gain a competitive advantage by improving your reaction time, repairing muscles and recovering faster. Sleep is often not prioritized by athletes, but it’s just as important as your physical activity and nutrition.
When it comes to creating a comfortable sleep environment, the mattress you sleep on can make a huge difference in whether you wake up with aches and pain or a restful night’s sleep. Bear mattresses like the Elite Hybrid are designed with athletes in mind, providing the support, pressure relief, and comfort you need for the deep, restorative sleep you deserve.
Disclaimer: Bear does not provide medical advice. All resources on the Bear blog, including this article, are informational only and do not replace professional medical counsel. Talk to your doctor about any health, mental health, or sleep-related issues.
