World boxing champion Mahummad Ali once remarked that getting to bed by 9 p.m. was the greatest training method of all. He knew the importance of “paying off” nature’s loan shark: SLEEP.
If serving in the infantry or studying at university (while working 2 part-time jobs) taught me anything about maintaining physical and mental performance, it was to eat and sleep every chance that I got.
Too often, anyone who used their free time to snooze was often labeled a slacker or lazy. Yet, I have seen plenty of high performing athletes and soldiers who had the ability to sleep almost anywhere.
Let me explain the benefits of sleep:
- When you sleep to recover or conserve your energy, you are being more productive than making small talk, phone scrolling or generally goofing off.
- Muscles repair faster during sleep. Sleep triggers the growth hormone (GH) and testosterone. Personally, my greatest strength and running gains were when I got an extra 30 minutes of sleep per night.
- Your brain can recover and remember more. I found learning much easier when I had adequate sleep.
- Sleep lowers the hormone ghrelin which reduces hunger and junk food cravings.
- Sleep lowers cortisol and reduces fat.
- Sleep lowers insulin fluctuations. In fact, sleep loss can aggravate diabetes.
The weight-loss crowd often think that they will make greater weight losses by missing sleep. They get stuck in the quest to burn more Calories. While they might in the short term, the loss of sleep will often increase fat-producing cortisol, inhibit muscle growth and give them less energy the following day to work, study or exercise.
In the army, we were often subjected to sleep deprivation. It was part of the job and was a way of testing us under stress. But, it often took weeks to recover from missing sleep.
Some people might require weeks or months of extra sleep. In his book, The Promise of Sleep, Dr. William Dement described how some people kept in dark environments would sleep up to 30 hours straight at a time to recover from missed slumber.
To encourage a good night’s sleep:
- Shut down all computers and cell phones an hour prior to sleep. Theses electronic devices produce a blue light that can convince your brain that it is still daytime. If you must use your computer, use services like the f.lux app. This app adjusts the computer screen’s light to match the light spectrum of the time of day, which your brain should recognize.
- Reduce the temperature in your room. A cool room is usually more conducive to sleep than a hot room.
- Sleep in a dark room. When I stay at a friend’s place way out in the country, the guest bedroom is dark. No street lights, passing cars or neighbors nearby. For your bedroom, get thick curtains or blinds that shut out the noise and light.
- Avoid caffeine and alcohol before bedtime. Both are diuretics.
- Do not consume sugar 1.5 hours before bedtime. Sugar will inhibit the growth hormone.
- If you have trouble falling asleep, eat some slices of turkey, which is high in the sleep-inducing amino acid tryptophan.
Sweet Dreams.
Coach Doug
