Sleep For Athletes: How Big A Deal Is It?

1 in 5 of us have a sleep disorder.

- Charlie Garforth

For athletes (not just bodybuilders), that number is 1 in 3. And there are specific reasons for this, which as both athletes and coaches we need to be aware of in order to reduce the chances of this becoming a problem or at least minimise the disorder when it arises.

Types of sleep disorder

Insomnia is a general term meaning lack of sleep.

This is then broken into two types of sleep disorder.

Sleep latency, means taking a long time to fall asleep.

Nocturia, means experiencing frequent awakenings during the night. People can suffer from one of these disorders or both in combination. And both are more common in athletes.

Why sleep is important

If you are suffering from a poor sleep pattern then you don’t need me to tell you how negative an impact it can have. You already know that when you aren’t sleeping well you feel terrible. Not just tired. So let’s go over the reasons why, and what is going on in your body.

When you suffer from lack of sleep you aren’t just tired, you suffer from hormonal imbalances which have a knock on effect or can cause a spiralling effect causing further lack of sleep.

Sleep is essential for recovery and impacts both muscle building and muscle maintenance while dropping body fat.

Not just any sleep though, it is during REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep that the body restores organs, bones, muscle tissue, the immune system and produces human growth hormone.

It is also during sleep that your mind rests and processes information from that day.

How much sleep should I get and when?

I recommend to my clients that they get at least 7 hours a day. Personally during prep I only get 6 hours though. I’ll explain the reasons for this and the effects of prep on sleep later.