Rest & Recover

SLEEP TO SUPPORT OPTIMAL PERFORMANCE

Athletes and athlete support personal consistently recognise sleep as one of the most crucial recovery strategies for optimising performance. This growing emphasis is likely due to the increasing awareness of the detrimental effects of sleep deprivation, which include reduced athletic performance, impaired cognitive function, weakened immune response, and mood disturbances.

Despite this understanding, athletes across both endurance and team sports frequently report insufficient sleep duration, along with increased sleep onset latency, particularly when training or competing late into the evening. Additionally, sleep quality is often compromised during periods of frequent or long-haul travel, such as during training camps and competition schedules. Other sport-related factors, including high training volumes, unfamiliar sleep environments, early morning sessions, and pre-competition anxiety, further contribute to the challenge of obtaining restorative sleep.

Given the essential role sleep plays in supporting peak performance during competition, as well as adaptation to and recovery from demanding training stimuli, implementing strategies to preserve and enhance sleep quality during both training and competition is therefore critical for athletes.