Many athletes have adjusted their lifestyle according to their athletic needs in a way that is to be admired. If you’re one of them, or just trying to be one in the near future, then you’ve probably changed your diet routine by thinking about your muscle needs. Also, we’re pretty sure you have, possibly with a trainer to help you, built the right training program that can totally prepare you for your athletic events and build your carrier body.
Well, diet and a good training program are the first things to come to our minds when thinking about an athletic preparation. What most athletes don’t understand is how the quality and amount of their sleep can affect their athletic performance. Is sleep really as important as a healthy and well-balanced diet and a professional training program? Well, according to science, yes, it is!
In matter of fact, sleep can often be the key to winning. It provides energy to our brain and body as well. According to a study made by the SLEEP journal, it once again confirmed the importance of a good sleep in an athlete’s performance showing increased and improved accuracy in well-rested athletes.
What else can a good-time sleep really do?
Well, sleep can do endless of valuable and necessary things in our body and mind. But, today, we’re going to focus only on its athletic contribution.
Despite the role a good, well-balanced diet plays in recovering and building muscles after a long training session, sleep is also a great contributor to finalize your athletic preparation while protecting you from possibility fatigues, increase your energy levels, and make you more focused on your training schedule. Did you know that many studies analyzing the importance of sleep in everyone’s life have shown that sleep deprivation can strongly impact our metabolism? Not getting enough sleep means our glucose metabolism slows down to 35 percent!
Sleep deprivation can also…
One of the main affected parts when we lack in sleep, is the immune and brain function. One of the main things sleep deprivation can do to athletes is to negatively affect their physiology aspect. We all know how essential for a good performance this aspect is. Also, it affects the cortisol status.
For you that don’t know what cortisol is, it is a stress hormone that affects many essential aspects of our brain and body. But sleep seems to do a lot more than the above-mentioned changes. The lack of sleep strongly shows that the human growth hormone becomes less active. It becomes less capable of functioning in the way it is supposed to.
Final thoughts
No athlete can really be the best version possible without a proper rest. Occasional resting periods are as important as the training program itself. Also, as important as an athletic-oriented diet in order for a professional athlete to achieve the highest level of fitness.
Sleep is in fact an investment that no one thriving to go far should neglect. The greater the training longevity and intensity, the bigger the need for resting hours that are best performed while sleeping.
