Here are five takeaways:
1. Ms. Mah offers three essential sleep tips:
- Get enough hours of sleep every single night. The National Sleep Foundation recommends seven to nine hours for most adults.
- Follow a wind down routine. Ms. Mah recommends spending 20 to 30 minutes stretching or practicing yoga before going to bed.
- Nap when needed. Ms. Mah said many athletes find it easiest to nap in the afternoon.
2. A study published in the Journal of Exercise Rehabilitation shows even as little as one night of partial sleep deprivation can affect peak heart rate levels, plasma lactate concentrations and ratings of perceived exertion, all of which affect exercise performance.
3. Several studies suggest that partial sleep restriction and sleep deprivation may not influence performance, like one published in the Journal of Human Movement Studies, which found three nights of restricted sleep did not affect endurance running performance, but findings like those may be a result of small study size and short study time frames, according to a 2014 review of research on sleep and athletic performance published in the journal Sports Medicine.
4. William G. Herbert, PhD, professor emeritus in the department of human nutrition, foods and exercise at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg and fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine, agreed that while aerobic and muscular power may not be affected by sleeplessness, most complex athletic activities require fine motor skills, such as visual tracking, decision making, vigilance and others, which are affected by sleep loss.
5. In the case of professional athletes, significant travel across time zones and related disruptions in sleep-wake cycles do likely affect sports performance where cognition, fine motor skills and emotional factors are especially important, said Dr. Herbert.
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Dr. Richard Parker performs surgery on Washington Wizards’ John Wall knees: 6 notes
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Dr. George Theodore: Pro-surgeon for pro-athletes
