Today we will talk about sleep, the most critical aspect of recovery.
Sleep is the most effective and affordable recovery process. I want to add the simplest one, but studies show that many people face sleep quality problems.
We cannot underestimate the importance of sleep.
First, let’s talk about the bonuses of quality sleep. It is high quality because just a dream does not have all these bonuses. What is quality sleep? You can charge your batteries/self to 60 percent in six hours of rest and get tired much faster, or you can charge them to 80, 90, or 100 percent every night and see what you’re really capable of.
What do we get from quality sleep?
1) Healthy/quality sleep helps our brain.
Your mind will not be so sharp. Going awake for 24 consecutive hours results in equivalent cognitive and motor impairments as the blood alcohol concentration is around 0.10 percent, which is above the legal limit for drunk driving.
2) Helps fight viruses
If you consistently get six or fewer hours of sleep, you’re four times more likely to get a cold than if you usually have seven or more hours of sleep.
3) Helps maintain a healthy weight.
Chronic sleep deprivation alters leptin and ghrelin, hormones that regulate hunger, and can make you more likely to indulge in foods high in saturated fat and sugar.
4) Reduces the chance of injury
After all, if we do not get enough sleep, our reactions and motor memory deteriorate. Sports medicine physicians are more likely to see injuries in athletes at the end of the season. This is due to the increased fatigue of the body, mainly because athletes do not get enough sleep.
Possibly the worst discovery for athletes, however, insufficient sleep for several days can change your coordination and biomechanics. “This certainly affects performance, but maybe more at risk of injury in the future.
5) Healthy sleep is vital for our immune system
Sleep plays an essential role in strengthening your immune system, and I would like to talk about this in a little more detail; let’s start with how your immune system works.
A quick refresher in biology: your immune system is a complex network of cells and proteins that serves as your body’s first and best line of defense against harmful viruses and bacteria. To amplify it, you need to focus on other areas in this case, sleep that directly affect the network. (1)
“There is strong evidence that the immune system works while we sleep and that without proper sleep, people are more vulnerable to pathogens. Why does lack of sleep take such a toll on your immune system? First, your body produces fewer fighter cells to seek out and destroy intruders. You also produce these cells when you are awake. But if you don’t sleep well, your body may spend more time-fighting wear and tear than producing T cells. In addition, “sleep is when your body and brain combine daytime information to create both memories and antibodies” these are proteins specifically made to target – and remember – a specific pathogen. They are the reason you become immune to some virus. This may explain why the flu shot seems ineffective for many people. People tend to have a lower immune response to vaccines when they don’t get enough sleep. (1)
Quality sleep also helps regulate our hormones.
And so we learned about the importance of quality sleep; now let’s talk about what quality sleep is and how we can change the quality of our sleep for the better.
You probably know that most adults need at least seven hours of sleep. But quality matters just as much as quantity. “It is during deep sleep [stage of non-REM sleep] that the body takes the short-term memory of the infection and turns it into a long-term memory so that we can fight it more effectively in the future.” (1)
During the press tour to Under Armor’s office in Portland, we talked with scientists, doctors, and professional athletes about quality sleep. The knowledge gained there I want to share with you.
Sleep plays a massive role in the lives of professional athletes.
Every professional athlete has said that sleep is the most important thing for him in the recovery process. The guys even joked that they are not ashamed when they sleep for twelve hours because this is part of their job.
Everyone also noted that the more complex the training, the more they sleep, and no one sleeps less than 9 hours. And the harder the workout, the longer they sleep.
But the quality is not only the duration of sleep.
What else, besides duration, does quality sleep include?
Scientists said that they teach athletes to sleep anew because many have problems with the ability to sleep properly.
As one of the scientists said, athletes should be treated like children.
There are simple rules that can improve sleep quality for each of us, and we’ll talk about them.
1. First and foremost is routine. You need to go to bed and get up at the same time. Deviation can be no more than 30-40 minutes. They introduce an evening routine to make it easy, as in childhood.
2. Write a to-do list.
Ma often does this every night as part of her sleep ritual. “It helps me process the day’s events and know what’s going to happen tomorrow, which can help through cognitive offloading. My head doesn’t work, and it’s easier for me to fall asleep,” she says, adding that studies show that people who make a to-do list and make it as specific as possible fall asleep faster than those who don’t write it. (2)
3. Don’t sleep on weekends.
If you get up at 7 am on weekdays and then sleep until 10 am on Saturdays and Sundays, that’s the equivalent of flying from New York to San Francisco every weekend. (After all, your body’s internal clock doesn’t know when Friday night’s “pause” is.) Sleep scientists call this “social jet lag,” Ma says, which can lead to sluggishness and sluggishness. To feel better throughout the week, try to wake up regularly. And if the weather permits, get some morning sunlight to set your body clock to that routine. (2)
4. Before going to bed, you need to take a warm bath or shower, do self-massage or meditate. Massage and meditation are optional; for some, it helps prepare for sleep very well.
Nutrition
It is advisable not to eat or drink at night.
Dehydration can exacerbate snoring and muscle cramps, which can disrupt sleep. Sleep quality is essential, so it’s important not to wake up at night to go to the toilet, especially during the deep sleep stages. Therefore, it is unnecessary to load the digestive and other systems at night. Before going to bed, you need to put a glass of water with electrolytes and drink it in the morning or if you suddenly want to at night. You can’t break your sleep cycle. But if you still want something to eat, it is worth choosing certain foods that will help improve sleep; yes, there are some.
First, according to research, people who regularly eat more fiber-rich foods, such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, are more likely to sleep longer, deeper, and better. This may be because many fiber-rich foods contain prebiotics, compounds that feed beneficial bacteria in the gut that can help regulate sleep hormones. (3)
On the other hand, a high-glycemic diet that typically includes foods with refined carbohydrates and added sugar, such as white bread and rice, pastries, and sodas, is associated with a higher risk of insomnia, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Medicine. These high-sugar foods can cause blood sugar levels to spike and then plummet, which circulates sleep-disrupting stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline.
Tart cherry juice improves sleep, according to research.
If you only make one change to your diet to improve sleep, choose this one tart cherry juice is one of the few foods and drinks that have been specifically studied for its beneficial effects on sleep and shown to help improve it. “Plus, it’s anti-inflammatory, so it can help you recover from a hard workout.” One of the reasons tart cherries are so effective is because they contain melatonin, a hormone that helps regulate sleep cycles. (3)
Eat bananas.
They contain vitamin B6, which is essential for the production of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that helps produce melatonin.
Nuts and seeds.
They are high in magnesium, a nutrient that plays a crucial role in how well we sleep.
Magnesium is essential for reducing stress and inflammation, and together with melatonin, it helps us fall asleep and stay asleep.
Do you not like nuts or seeds? Leafy greens and avocados also contain this mineral.
Also, scientists recommend eating more watermelons, melons, and cucumbers.
Nutrition Restrictions
Stop drinking certain drinks.
Two things that don’t go well with sleep: coffee and booze. “Because caffeine has a half-life of about six hours, if you drink a cup of coffee during lunch, a quarter of that caffeine will still be circulating in your brain at midnight. It’s the same as drinking coffee right before bed,” (3) On the other hand, alcohol “acts as a sedative that puts your brain into a light sleep.”
Stop caffeine 12-14 hours before you go to bed by 10 am is a good rule of thumb and if you can, avoid alcohol in the evenings.
Switch to plant foods as often as possible.
Like refined sugar, high amounts of saturated fat in your diet can interfere with your rest, causing you to sleep less. Meat, especially red meat, contains more saturated fat than other sources of protein.
Rethink your dessert.
Ending the day with a sweet can lead to a blood sugar spike, crash, and release the stress hormone that keeps you awake all night.
And maybe ditch the dark chocolate; even two small squares can ruin your holiday if you’re sensitive to caffeine.
What else is very important for quality sleep?
Space
This is the space where we sleep.
1) The first is soundproofing. The bedroom should be quiet.
2) The second is the right light. They install two types of lamps – warm and cold light. One for night and evening, and the second for the morning.
3) The mattress is changed to an environmentally friendly one ( https://casper.com ), which does not create electricity and other currents. Then bed linen and pajamas. The company released underwear and pajamas designed for its athletes for free sale.
4) They completely clean everything from the bedroom because cleanliness is essential. They also install air purifiers and humidifiers. They want to try aromatherapy soon and are working on it.
5) Make the right temperature in the bedroom; it should not be too warm or cold, it is crucial not only for sleep but also for the skin.
6) Be sure to change bed linen at least once a week and a pillowcase two or three, preferably more often!
7) It is important that the windows can be tightly curtained, so that excess light does not interfere with sleep.
Then they make a list of things to do and not to do before bed.
In the bedroom, it is forbidden to take the phone, store clothes, etc. Blue light from screens is evil and off-limits an hour before bed, just getting back to your pre-bedtime routine. You can read or listen to books, do something that sets you up for sleep and calms the constant sorting out of thoughts. Before going to bed, it helps many people to write a list of tasks that have been completed today and plan for tomorrow.
The bedroom is a quiet, clean place just for sex or sleep. No phones or other gadgets, only books, no clothes (dust from it, no extra sockets, etc.)
I like this idea. After all these seminars, I realized an important thing, the closet should not be in the bedroom or connected with the bedroom at all. It is terrible because all the dirt and dust come from clothes; we had a closet at the entrance to the apartment, which is the best solution.
Which of these can we apply to improve sleep quality?
All of them!
It is clear that soundproofing, clearing the bedroom of things, and changing the mattress are the most difficult things so you can start with simple things like regimen, routine, light, temperature, bedding, cleanliness, and humidity.
You can change the lamps and make one light for the morning, the other for the evening. Also, equip the bedroom with blackout curtains so that extra light does not penetrate at night. You can change bed linen and pajamas for special ones that help recovery. It is possible and necessary to remove all gadgets from the room and not take the phone to bed, not look at the screen an hour before bedtime, but read a book. Do not eat or drink before bed.
All these tips are critical for pro athletes, but they will also help improve the quality of sleep for each person and, therefore, the quality of life.
Follow your rhythm
Remember that you do not have to adjust yourself to society’s standards or a partner. Somehow I came across a blogger who boasted and said that he gets up at 5-6 in the morning and taught others about it. In fact, this is stupidity since you are different, and we must listen and know your body. Not everyone has cheerfulness at 5 in the morning. And not everyone likes to go to bed very late. Instead of fighting your preferences, respect them by structuring your daily life around your internal clock. If you’re not a morning person, schedule more critical work or workouts for the afternoon.
“We still have a lot to learn, but it’s interesting to know that we all work according to our own clock, which controls almost everything in our body” – The closer you pay attention to your own, the more likely you will feel more in control of what when you wake up, eat, exercise, sleep whatever you want to do with your time. (4)
Why does someone get up early and others progressive at night?
Back in 2017, the Nobel Prize in Physiology was awarded to scientists who studied the so-called “circadian rhythms” – the human biological clock that controls the work of almost every system in our body. Everyone has a central clock that tells all the individual clocks in their body (the ones in your muscles, liver, stomach, etc.) (4)
Whether you are an owl or a lark, your body’s habit of sleeping at certain times is regulated by circadian rhythms. This internal clock controls almost every aspect of our health, from appetite and sleepiness to cell division, hormone production, and cardiovascular health.
Our biological rhythm is “encoded” individually, with most people falling into a 24-hour cycle.
Not everyone has a circadian rhythm of 24 hours. Yours may be 23 or 25. Some body clocks run on a much shorter 20-hour cycle. (4)
However, there are those whose internal routine is out of sync. Scientists believe it is caused by [mutation of the CRY1 protein]
The biological clock, of course, is synchronized with the brain. The light our eyes catch helps maintain the day/night cycle, which is why when you travel to a different time zone, your internal clock no longer matches the solar cycle, and it takes about a week to adjust. In everyday life, the worst enemy of the internal clock is bright artificial light at night, which disorients the body’s systems. Scientists have found ( https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(12)00189-1?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS1550413112001891%3Fshowall%3Dtrue&from=article_link=) that even the usual reading of e-books at night for several hours can cause poor sleep and make you feel worse the next day. (4)
Naps
I would also like to touch upon such an important topic for athletes as daytime sleep because this is a natural boost of energy and an excellent sleep for recovery.
Science shows that adding naps to your daily routine can make you a better athlete. This is a vast hidden opportunity for athletes to improve their performance without doing anything special.
One of the benefits of proper sleep is that it activates your parasympathetic nervous system (also known as the “fight and” response), which brings your body back into homeostasis. Daytime naps lower your heart rate, lower your blood pressure, relax your muscles, and increase your energy reserves. Only when all these physiological changes reduce the stress on your body will you be able to recover.
Think of naps like rebooting your system: shutting down and shutting down completely can reduce sluggishness when you turn the power back on. “Even a short nap can improve alertness and reaction time.”
According to research, daytime naps can also reduce your perceived exertion during exercise and boost your endurance that day.
But we all know that sometimes after a daytime sleep, we feel overwhelmed; what is the proper daytime rest?
Know your window
“If you want your workout to be at its best after lunch or in the evening, try to take a nap between 13 and 16 hours.”
It also matters how soon you plan to exercise; after sleeping 90 minutes or more, you should give yourself 95-155 minutes before exercising to get rid of sleep inertia, that slow, heavy feeling you get when you wake up.
Choose the right length.
For instant revival: 10 minutes
Yes, science shows that even 10 minutes can be refreshing. In a study published in the journal Sleep, researchers found that super-short naps after a night of poor sleep can immediately increase alertness and improve cognitive performance for up to three hours.
Nap to Improve Performance. (5)
When you want everything to click: 20 minutes
The National Sleep Foundation considers this length to be ideal. This allows you to reap benefits such as increased alertness, improved task performance and confidence in said performance, stronger determination, and improved mood. This is probably why this golden mean is commonly referred to as “drowsiness.”
When you need an edge: 30 minutes
Half an hour of sleep can help you overcome the decline in mental and physical performance caused by either lack of sleep or fatigue from afternoon workouts, according to a study published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. Sleeping like this before a workout or fitness event when you feel out of sorts can be a good idea because you won’t get into the deeper stages of sleep that make you feel sluggish.
To get the most out of your muscles: 45 minutes
In a study published in Frontiers in Physiology, Researchers found that 45 minutes of sleep was the best for improving performance. Deep sleep pays off after a tough workout: the sleep stage you typically enter after 30 minutes is critical to recovering from workout fatigue.
If you didn’t sleep well the night before: 90 minutes.
This longer nap should help you get through a complete sleep cycle and spend time in light and deep sleep when human growth hormone is released to jump-start your recovery. You’ll also get some REM sleep, which studies show helps improve memory ( key to learning a new exercise) and waking up before moving on to a new cycle when you are more likely to delay sleep. Pro Tip: Set your alarm for just over 90 minutes. This will give you time to fall asleep and make it more likely that you will wake up naturally before the alarm goes off.
Turn up the frequency
There are no hard and fast rules about how often you should catch noon zzzzzzz. Bender recommends that athletes sleep at least three-plus times a week or every other day. And the amount of time in each stage of sleep is different when the dream is consolidated and when it is broken, so on days when your body needs a full recovery, give preference to a solid eight nights.
The only thing you don’t want to do? Rely on naps as a remedy for chronic bad sleep. Daytime Naps should be part of your post-workout recovery kit, not your sleep replenishment kit. (6)
The importance of sleep I only began to understand when I increased my running volumes. Unfortunately, it is very difficult for me to implement all these tips now, especially when you live in rented housing and your neighbors do not really care about the quality of sleep of other residents. But I still really hope that soon I will be able to have the right closet not connected to the bedroom and the bedroom without gadgets.
- Nap to Improve Performance. Nike.com. https://www.nike.com/a/nap-for-performance-edge
- How Sleep Affects Your Immune System. Nike.com. https://www.nike.com/a/how-sleep-affects-the-immune-system
- Sleep Better Tonight for a Better Run Tomorrow. Nike MY. https://www.nike.com/my/a/sleep-better-run-better
- What to Eat for Better Sleep. Nike.com. https://www.nike.com/a/what-to-eat-for-better-sleep
- How to set your “biological clock” yourself | ORDO NEWS. https://ordonews.com/how-to-set-your-biological-clock-yourself/
- Nike.com. https://www.nike.com/a/nap-for-performance-edge
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