The Telegraph
London, UK
14 June, 2007


How sleeping puts athletes on fast track

By Nicole Martin

Sleep may hold the key to success in sport, researchers said yesterday.

They found that athletes performed better, ran faster and had higher energy levels after several weeks of extended sleep.

Researchers from Stanford University, California, published their findings after monitoring the performance of university basketball players for eight weeks.

For the first two weeks, the athletes slept for about six to eight hours a night.

Over the following six weeks, this increased to about 10 hours a night.

Researchers reported "significant improvements" in players' sprint times, shooting percentages and energy levels after a few weeks of extra sleep.

Cheri Mah, a research graduate who conducted the study, said: "Their sprinting times improved by a second, which in sporting terms is very important and can make a huge difference in a game."

Speaking at the annual meeting of Associated Professional Sleep Societies in Minnesota, she said: "Although much research has established the detrimental effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive function, mood and performance, relatively little research has investigated the effects of extra sleep over multiple nights, and even less on the specific relationship between extra sleep and athletic performance.

"We observed significant improvements in performance, including faster sprint time and increased free-throws. Athletes also reported increased energy and improved mood during practices and games."

Experts recommend that adults have between seven and eight hours of sleep a night to ensure they remain healthy and mentally well.

Recent studies have linked sleep deprivation to serious health problems such as an increased risk of depression, obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Charlie Pedlar, a psychologist at the English Institute of Sport, said: "The importance of sleep cannot be underestimated.

"Effective rest is essential to aiding recovery and pre-competition preparation. It has been said that winning athletes are not those who train the hardest, but those who recover the most effectively."

But sleep is not always the key to success.

Graeme Obree, the Scottish racing cyclist who set a one-hour record in 1993, took a different approach the night before the record attempt.

To stop his aching body seizing up, he drank pint upon pint of water so that he had to wake up every couple of hours to go to the lavatory, allowing him to stretch his muscles.

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