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Why Every Coach Should Care About Sleep
“The importance of sleep is becoming better understood by elite coaches for getting the most out of their athletes, but promoting a healthy sleep routine should be a priority for coaches at every level of the sport to protect the physical and mental health of their athletes or runners.
The importance of sleep for achieving optimal health and athletic performance has been given considerable attention by coaches, sports scientists and health professionals. Lack of sleep has been shown to adversely affect metabolic and endocrine function (Spiegel, Leproult & Van Cauter, 1999), cognitive ability (Van Dongen et al., 2004), reduce muscle glycogen (Skein et al., 2011) and deteriorate restorative physiological processes (Walker & Stickgold, 2005). In a sporting context, athletes that are well rested are able to react faster, sprint faster, recover faster and play longer. It is therefore unsurprising that coaches of elite athletes devote considerable attention to managing the sleep of their athletes and consider it a key factor in achieving optimal performance. However, studies that have examined the attitudes of coaches towards the sleep habits of non-elite athletes suggest that there is a lack of attention given to sleep in recreational and junior levels of the sport (Robey et al., 2014; Samuels, 2009). This article will demonstrate the physical and mental benefits of a healthy sleeping regime for non-elite athletes and how coaches working at a community level can best assist the physical and mental well-being of their athletes and recreational runners.
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Key Facts
• The recommended amount of sleep per night is at least nine hours for teenagers and at least seven hours for adults, however this may vary for individuals (Watson et al., 2015).
• Exercise has been shown to be associated with better sleep (Youngstedt & Kline, 2006), however overtraining may lead to issues that reduce sleep quality (Lesage & Hening, 2004)
• Lack of sleep is significantly correlated with obesity (Fogelholm et al., 2007)
• Average sleep duration that is shorter or longer than the recommended guidelines are significant predictors of death (Cappuccio et al., 2010)
How much sleep is the right amount?
You've probably heard that 8 hours per night is the optimal amount of sleep we should aim for, but this is only loosely supported by peer-reviewed research. While 8 hours does fall within the range sleep considered 'healthy', there is no magic number when it comes to how much sleep we should be getting every night. While one person may require eight hours to feel fully rested in the morning, another person sleeping in the exact same conditions may need as little as six hours to fully replenish (Yetish et al., 2015). The reason for this variability between individuals is poorly understood but it is clear that as we age, our sleeping requirements lessen. The figure below from the National Sleep Foundation provides general guidelines for you to work with, but as coaches it is important to know what is normal for your athletes and work around ensuring they reach that every night.
If an athlete is sleeping less than seven hours each night they are at risk of weight gain, diabetes, depression and impaired immune function (Barrett et al., 2015). A meta-analysis has also showed that short and long average sleep durations are "significant predictors of of death in prospective population studies" (Cappuccio et al., 2010).
During sleep the restorative processes of the human body are accelerated, allowing runners and athletes of all skill levels to recover more effectively from a hard training session or competition schedule. But it's not just for athletes looking to get every last drop of performance out of their bodies who need to consider their sleeping patterns to achieve their personal goals.
Consider the motivations of your athletes or runners to participate and the reason they come to you as a coach - you may find that ensuring that they are having enough sleep every night is just as important as what they are doing in training.
Do your runners come to you to lose weight?
A lack of sleep has been shown to have metabolic effects that cause weight gain (Patel et al., 2006).
Do your athletes come to you to learn a new skill or technique?
Sleep is believed to be essential for our memory and it is during sleep that our brain consolidates the new synapses created from exposure to new information or the learning of new skills (Maquet, 2001). Ensuring that your athletes are getting enough slow-wave sleep may play a crucial role in accelerating skill acquisition (Born & Wilhelm, 2011).
Do your runners train with you to avoid injury?
Sleep is an essential component of muscle recovery (Dattilo et al., 2011) and intensified bone building (Fu et al., 2011) to repair daily wear and tear.
Are they coming just to look and feel good?
Sleep has been shown to improve skin quality and general happiness (Alvarez & Ayas, 2004).
Sleep for young athletes
Considering the sleep of your athletes is especially important when coaching juniors. Adolescents are amongst those most likely to suffer from sleep deprivation with over one in three people having some form of sleep problem during their teenage years (Wolfson & Carskadon, 1998). There are multiple factors that contribute to this, including heavy education workloads, busy social lives, biological factors and heavy use of electronic devices before sleep.
As a coach it is important to remember that young athletes require more sleep than adults. Children under the age of 13 are advised to have at least nine hours and teenagers a minimum of eight hours every night. This is especially challenging for teenagers due to changing circadian rhythms that can delay the onset of sleep by as much as two hours (Richter, 2015). When combined with early mornings for school or weekend sports this compresses their sleep and forces many out of bed before they are physically ready to wake up. This means that many adolescents are missing their last few hours of sleep, considered the most important for complete recovery.
Coaches can help prevent adolscent sleep deprivation by ensuring that training sessions are never too early in the morning for teenage athletes where it would disrupt their natural sleeping rhythm. Coaches should also speak with their athletes, or parents if appropriate, about the importance of planning their schedule to ensure that they are getting enough sleep each night and avoiding sleep debt.
The most important reason to promote adequate sleep to junior athletes is to decrease the likelihood of an injury occurrence. In a study of 112 High School athletes, Milewski et al. (2014) demonstrated that there is a significant correlation between the hours an athlete slept and their likelihood of being injured over a 12 month period. Athletes who slept for less than an average of eight hours a night were 1.7 times more likely to suffer from an injury than an athlete who averaged over eight hours of sleep. This is most likely due to the associated impairment of motor function, mood and cognitive abilities, which could increase the chances of injury and decrease athletic performance. It is suggested that when coaching adolescent athletes, coaches consider the quantity and quality of sleep that their athletes have had over the previous nights and avoid intense or long sessions during a period where they know their athlete is going to be having less sleep, for example around exam periods or important social events.
