Sleep Extension and Napping Found to Improve Athletic Performance

Athletes have very busy schedules dealing with practices, games, school, and work. With this busy schedule, athletes tend to have less hours of sleep than a regular person. Studies have demonstrated that if an athlete extends their hours of sleep or make up for lost hours of sleep by taking a 45-minute nap during the day, it can improve their athletic performance. Depending on the sport, some athletes may need more hours than other athletes. It’s also shown that getting enough sleep daily can decrease fatigue and improvements in mood. Nutritional interventions also play a role in sleeping habits. There was a study done that demonstrated that diets high in carbohydrate may result in shorter sleep latencies, and diets high in protein may result in improved sleep quality, and diets high in fat may negatively influence total sleep time. So, when keeping an eye on athletes sleep routine, its also important to keep an eye on their nutritional status. Overall, athletes that get enough of sleep daily has a positive outcome in their health dealing with fatigue and mood and improvement in their athletic performance