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Richard Swinbourne
High Performance Nutritionist
PhD Scholar “Sleep & Elite Athletes”
ABCS OF ZZZS
YOU SNOOZE…YOU WIN!
SLEEP LIKE THE PROs
Some of the worlds best
sports people hunt sleep
aggressively. Roger
Federer regularly gets 12
hours sleep in 24, Lebron
James 12 hours, Usain Bolt
8-10.
They are amazing athletes
and that they sleep a lot is
no coincidence!
SLEEP & HEALTH
Sleep is as important as
breathing, eating and
drinking for life. Do you
treat it as such?
Poor sleep is strongly
related to weight gain,
heart disease, cancer and
diabetes, poor mood and
daytime dysfunction.
Improving your sleep can
be truly transformational,
whether you want to loose
weight, live to 100 or excel
at your sport!
What IS Sleep?
Sleep is a state of unconsciousness in which both the body
and the brain rest, repair, regenerate, and recharge.
Sleep cycles: body repairs over 1st 4 hrs (deep sleep), then brain
recharges (light sleep and REM dream sleep)….if you have a short
night the body repairs but the brain suffers!!
How much sleep do
we need?
Sleep is very individual.
Most adult humans need
7.5-8.5 hours per night,
teens 9 hours, school
children 10-11 hours for
optimal functioning, good
health and happiness.
Hard working athletes may
need a little more than the
minimum.
If we under sleep, the
difference is called sleep
debt, which accrues over
time. You can dissolve
sleep debt with 2 really
good full nights sleep.
Often the weekend is a time
to catch up!
What Happens if we
sleep more??
College Basket Ball Players
were asked to sleep more,
from their usual 6:45hr
extended to 8:45hrs
They turned into Super Humans!!!
Athletic performance...Significant improvement!
Faster sprint times…improved muscle and nervous function
Better skill acquisition & execution…better learners
Shot more hoops…9% more 3 pointers!
Increased ENERGY, LESS fatigue
They FELT they performed better
Improved mood…They were HAPPIER
WHAT HAPPENED?
Similar improvements seen. It doesn’t matter your sport, even for the CORPORATE ATHLETE or high performance MUM and DAD, sleep
makes the difference!
STUDY REPEATED IN OTHER SPORTS
“I Love To Sleep”. Lyndsey Vonn
“If I don’t sleep 11-12 hours a day, its not right”. Roger Federer
“HOW DO WE SLEEP MORE
& SLEEP BETTER?”
FIRSTLY EXTEND YOUR SLEEP
YOUR END OF WEEK GOAL:
LOOK AT YOUR USUAL TOTAL SLEEP
INCREASE TOTAL SLEEP TIME BY
1 HOUR OVER 1 WEEK!
HOW?
1. SIMPLY GO TO BED 10 MINUTES
EARLIER EACH NIGHT
2. EXTEND THE HOURS BEFORE
MIDNIGHT, RATHER THAN SLEEP LATER
N.B. YOUR BODY CLOCK WILL NOT
NOTICE 10 MINUTES EACH NIGHT
FEEL THE DIFFERENCE!!
THIS TAKES DISCIPLINE BUT SLEEPING LONGER IS IMPORTANT.
YOU CAN CONTROL WHAT YOU DO IN THE EVENING.
CONTROL THE CONTROLLABLES!
TRICKS TO GETTING TO SLEEP
& SLEEPING BETTER
Once sleep hours are optimised
the body loves routine & daily
recalibration
• SLEEP WITH THE MOON; Go
to sleep within 30mins of the
same time each night.
• RISE WITH THE SUN; Awake
roughly at the same time each
morning.
• Sleeping in? 30-60 min sleep in
is ok, more and you will feel
‘jetlagged’…have an afternoon
nap instead
The De Power Hour
Can you go from 100km/hr to 0km/hr in
5 minutes??
NO!!
HAVE PRE SLEEP HABITS
Allow an hour b4 bed to unwind, relax, &
prepare your body for hibernation.
Follow this routine. Parents prepare their
children for sleep every night with a repeatable
routine and set of habits…you need to do this
too!
Try calming or distracting your mind with meditation, music, a fav
book, progressive muscle relaxation, or a meditation app like
HEADSPACE
Writing down your thoughts,
worries and ‘to do’s is
incredibly relaxing for the
mind…it stops you churning
things over in bed…you go to
sleep faster!
“Worrying about the next day is
the biggest cause of insomnia”
Trick your Biology
Your body temp must
dip to trigger
sleepiness. This is how
Melatonin works!
Having a shower or
bath within an hour of
bed mimics this
response.
Warm your skin before
bed with water…every
night!
Warm feet make you
drowsy…try wearing
socks before bed.
This is the ‘Jacuzzi
effect’; warming your
skin triggers
sleepiness.
The brain is very primal…as a daytime
animal, when the sun is up, so are we!
Turn the lights down in your house
1 hour before you want to go to
sleep. Use lamps. This is HIGHLY
effective.
Caveman did not have any problems
getting to sleep!!!
Minimise screen time…reduce
brightness on your eye…TV is ok
with room lights off.
Avoid blue light…download a
blue light filter or F.LUX app
for your computer
MANAGE SLEEP WRECKERS
Taper
fluid after
dinner
Block light Block sound
Cool bedroom;
biologically we
sleep best at a
room temp of
18 degrees
celcius.
“WARM BODY
COOL HEAD”
Do you
need that
PM
primer?
Coffee
takes 6
hrs to
reduce by
half
strength.
A double
shot at
2pm is a
single
shot at
8pm!
SLEEP NUTRITION
Including protein and carbs at dinner
increases sleep hormones
Tart cherry juice is
proven to enhance
sleep quality. For
adults only and cycle
use. Try for a few
nights when you need
natural help or when
training hard.
Magnesium
and zinc
enhance
sleep
hormone
production.
Quality protein
supplies
Tryptophan, a
building block for
melatonin. Try
some milk before
bed!
WHAT ABOUT NAPPING?
• NASA studied Napping.
• Highly effective strategy if tired
Basic NASA Nap Rules
• Don’t nap if you struggle with
insomnia/cant get to sleep at night
• We are programmed to nap @8hr post
wake up time i.e. between 1-330pm
• Don’t nap much past about 330pm
• A small nap of 20-30 mins is best
• Keep to 30min OR 90 mins to feel good
afterwards…set your alarm!
• Coffee naps…take some coffee b4 to feel
better when you wake.
• Try it on the weekend to ‘catch up’
A 26 min nap can increase
concentration by 100% and
performance by 34%
Now you know your ABCs!! Sleep is a behaviour. Practice it. Improve it.
Humans do what makes us feel good. Sleeping better feels good.
In fact it feels GREAT!
sleep better. be better