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Here Is How Sleep Can Help Athletes In Their Recovery Process

Tue 05 01 2021

Good quality sleep and good recovery are both essential for athletes and their performance. To achieve both, you need to prioritize them and give them the attention needed. Recovery is very important for an athlete who wishes to practice their sport and be active again. For this reason, we decided to write this article, which talks about the effects of sleep on the recovery process of athletes.

The importance of rest and recovery

When an athlete is injured, rest is very important to recover and maintain, as well as improve their performance, and prevent injuries. Short-term or active recovery includes a phase of cooling down after a very tough workout. During this time, it is important to make up for lost energy and fluids in the body as well as getting enough sleep. Good quality sleep is not only important before an exercise but also after it. Deep sleep has been suspected to help improve athletic performance as during this time of sleep, growth hormone is released. The latter stimulates muscle repair and growth, fat burning and bone building.

Importance of sleep for athletes

Some studies have tested the effects of sleep deprivation on athletes and the consequences were many. These included: mood changes, slow muscle recovery, high levels of stress hormones, lower aerobic endurance, and others.

In other studies investigating the benefits of sleep for athletes, a study conducted in 2009 proved that sleeping more led to faster athletic performance especially during running and tennis hits. In another study, the result of the increased sleep time for basketball players was associated with improved performance in shooting by more than 10%.

On the other hand, exercising can affect our sleep quality as well. People who exercise regularly have reported having better quality sleep. People who had more intense workouts said that they experience the best sleep quality. But even light exercising can improve your sleep as well, so why not give it a try?

Furthermore, sleep apnea becomes more common for people who do not do any form of exercise.

The amount of sleep you need for your level of exercise

You might ask yourself if you would need more sleep if you exercise more. That depends on how intense is your workout and its frequency. Elite athletes usually sleep between 10 and 12 hours every night when they have the training, and might take a nap during the day to improve their performance.

However, for every person, the requirement is different. Beginners could feel sleepier after a workout than someone who workouts regularly.