Mental WELLness - Athletes + Sleep
ATHLETES and sleep
WHY sleep?
Getting enough sleep is essential for growth, recovery, and repair from the day's activities. These functions of sleep are especially important for young, developing athletes, who are exerting themselves physically on a daily basis – and a good night's rest can make all the difference in their athletic, academic, and social success.
RECOVER and REPAIR physically and mentally.
"The first four hours of sleep are dominated by physical recovery, where more than 50% of your daily growth hormone is released, allowing the body to repair, recover, and optimize training adaptations like increased muscle growth, strength and power. The last four hours of sleep are dominated by the mental recovery phase, which is important in the development of short and long-term memory, processing and cognitive function. This phase helps keep the mind sharp. When trying to reach peak performance, sleep is a critical component – just as you would focus on hydration, conditioning, nutrition and mental preparation.”
SLEEP decreases injury rate, improves cognitive function, improves mood.
SLEEP HYGEIN, like all habits are reenforced by what adults model within the home. Set the example you want your young adults to follow. Side BENEFIT, YOU will feel better!
Tips and Tricks to Develop a Strong Sleep Practice:
Stick to a sleep schedule. The recommended amount of sleep varies by age. 13-18 years old 8 to 10 hours, adults 18-60 7 or more.
Go to bed and get up at the same time every day. Try to limit the difference in your sleep schedule on weeknights and weekends to no more than one hour. Being consistent reinforces your body's sleep-wake cycle. People who go to bed by 10pm have healthier sleep patterns. Try moving your bedtime by 15 minutes for two weeks, every two weeks until 10pm is reached.
Pay attention to what you eat and drink. Don't go to bed hungry or stuffed.
Nicotine, caffeine (another conversation but coffee, monster drinks, and sports performance drinks- NEED to be used with extreme caution). STIMULANTS take hours to wear off and can wreak havoc on quality sleep.
ALCOHOL reduces REM sleep and can cause sleep disruptions. People who drink before bed often experience insomnia symptoms and feel excessively sleepy
SCREEN TIME is a no 30 minutes before bedtime. Get cell phones out of bedrooms! They are disruptive to sleep cycles and emotional moods of young adults.
Exercising four to five hours before bedtime can improve sleep quality. However, exercising right before bedtime can IMPAIR sleep.
Create a restful environment. Create a room that's ideal for sleeping. Often, this means cool, dark and quiet.
Room temp is best between 63 and 65.
Essential oils can also be a powerful way to help you relax and sleep better.
Although research on the use of essential oils is limited, lavender essential oil is widely recognized as a mood calmer. Research on young, healthy sleepers found that lavender increased the amount of slow- and deep-wave sleep in participants. All reported feeling “higher vigor” next day. Not all EO are created equal and there are many synthetic oils on the market that can be harmful. PURE by Melaleuca 100% pure traceable to indigenous source.
Probiotics within 4 hours of bedtime can aid with digestion process and ultimately help with REM sleep. Probiotics also help with allergies, coughs/colds, and mucus (these conditions can also inhibit sleep). I recommended FLORIFY, manufactured by Melaleuca.