Usually, when talking about sleeping, we talk about getting "enough sleep". But research is pointing out that just getting "enough" isn't optimal. There is normal sleep, then there is optimal sleep. Here is a link to an article about research on sleep and athletes, stating that 10 hours of sleep/night makes you faster: http://espn.go.com/espn/commentary/story/_/id/7765998/for-athletes-sleep-new-magic-pill
It's hard to get young people to sleep this much. I have discovered that a lot of young peoples get texts at night from friends and then they text them back. And there are social activities that go into the night and take away from sleep. And school schedules often start early in the morning, so sleep gets cut into from both ends.
Athletes should not get their schedules from the normal world. Athletes are set apart from the normal population. They don't just do fitness activities- they train for a particular sport. They don't just eat like normal people. They aim for optimum fuel for their bodies. And they don't take their sleep patterns from the social norm either. They aim for optimum rest between workouts so they can get faster.
If you aren't getting faster and can't figure out why, try getting 10 hours of sleep every night and see if it makes a difference in your performance. And it's not just amount of sleep that is important. Sleep quality is also important.
To improve sleep quality, during the hour before bedtime, do a series of relaxing activities, such as reading, walking, yoga, a bath or meditation. Then, have white noise on in the bedroom, have a completely dark room, without any light, by keeping out clocks and electronics, and putting blackout shades over the windows.
Then, get 10 hours of sleep at night. Here is the link to the article: http://espn.go.com/espn/commentary/story/_/id/7765998/for-athletes-sleep-new-magic-pill
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