Health & Fitness
Moving Sleep up the Priority List
February, 2011
Have you ever seen a triathlon t-shirt with the slogan “Swim, Bike, Run, Eat, Sleep?” I can only imagine what a non-athlete must think when they read that shirt. “Hummm…. ‘eat, sleep’…. that’s not part of any triathlon that I’m aware of.” What they might not be aware of is that both nutrition and sleep are essential for optimal performance in training and on race day. For this article, I would like to expand on how chronic lack of sleep can have detrimental effects on your training and racing performance. Specifically, sleep deprivation has been shown to reduce cognitive abilities, impede cellular growth and repair, reduce the metabolism of glucose, and increase the stress hormone cortisol.
The human body requires sleep as part of its natural circadian rhythm. Sleep is essential for normal brain function and there is an abundance of research linking sleep deprivation to reduced cognitive abilities. In short, lack of sleep can cause memory impairment, cognitive slowing, and reduced sustained attention. Again, everyone needs sleep to maintain normal cognitive function, and our brain controls our body so it’s seems like a “no brainer” that the body needs rest too. Unfortunately, the specific physiological deficits of sleep deprivation are not as well researched as their cognitive counterparts.
What we do know is this: what impacts our brain, impacts our bodies. To lessen the impact of the repetitive action of training, sleep becomes very important. As athletes, we are constantly stressing our bodies’ systems. Asking ourselves to push harder, go faster. These demands cause breakdown at the cellular level that must be repaired for us to be able to perform at the same level or faster, time after time. Essential to cellular growth and repair is the human Growth Hormone (hGH). This hormone is secreted on a daily basis when sleeping, allowing the body to respond to the need for muscle, bone, and tissue growth, therefore readying you for your next bout of intense training.
Another factor in athletic performance is fuel (aka: energy). You might already know that the body uses different forms of energy (fat vs carbohydrates) depending on how hard or how long you are exercising and that fat is stored in adipose cells and glycogen is stored in muscle cells. One more obvious point is that when these stores are depleted, you feel fatigue. Now, here’s where sleep becomes important. Studies have indicated that lack of sleep reduces the body’s ability to metabolize glucose. Remember how I said we use glycogen for fuel during exercise? Well, glycogen is the stored form of glucose. If you don’t metabolize well, you won’t be replenishing your stores. Low glycogen stores = fatigue and poor performance.
Finally, if you don’t get enough sleep you can add ‘sleep loss’ to your list of stresses in your life (and no one needs more stress). When under stress, the body releases a hormone called cortisol. A long-standing, high concentration of cortisol has been linked to excessive protein breakdown and tissue wasting. For athletes performing intense, prolonged exercise, it also increases risk of ketosis. Ketosis is when the body burns fat for energy. Sounds good, right? Wrong. When using fat for energy, the body produces excessive amounts of ketones in the blood. This can cause serious problems for athletes, including (among other things) depleted glycogen reserves, dehydration, and poor athletic performance.
In summary, sleep is an important part of life, and as essential to performance as a training session when it comes to athletes. Without the body’s ability to repair at a cellular level and effectively replenish glycogen stores, we will not be able to progress in training no matter how many repeats we are supposed to do.
So what can you do to get more sleep? Here are a few tips:
- Coach Maya Hunnewell
References:
1. Bonnet MH. Acute sleep deprivation. In: Kryger M, Roth T, Dement WC, editors. Principles and practice of sleep medicine. 4th. Ed. ed. Philadelphia: Saunders; 2005. p. 51-66.
2. Oliver SJ, Costa RJ, Laing SJ, Bilzon JL, Walsh NP. One night of sleep deprivation decreased treadmill endurance performance. Eur J Applied Physiology 2009 Sept; 107(2) 155-61
3. Van Cauter E, Knutson K. Leproult R, Spiegel K. The impact of sleep deprivation on hormones and metabolism. Univer. Of Chicago.
Moving Sleep up the Priority List
February, 2011
Have you ever seen a triathlon t-shirt with the slogan “Swim, Bike, Run, Eat, Sleep?” I can only imagine what a non-athlete must think when they read that shirt. “Hummm…. ‘eat, sleep’…. that’s not part of any triathlon that I’m aware of.” What they might not be aware of is that both nutrition and sleep are essential for optimal performance in training and on race day. For this article, I would like to expand on how chronic lack of sleep can have detrimental effects on your training and racing performance. Specifically, sleep deprivation has been shown to reduce cognitive abilities, impede cellular growth and repair, reduce the metabolism of glucose, and increase the stress hormone cortisol.
The human body requires sleep as part of its natural circadian rhythm. Sleep is essential for normal brain function and there is an abundance of research linking sleep deprivation to reduced cognitive abilities. In short, lack of sleep can cause memory impairment, cognitive slowing, and reduced sustained attention. Again, everyone needs sleep to maintain normal cognitive function, and our brain controls our body so it’s seems like a “no brainer” that the body needs rest too. Unfortunately, the specific physiological deficits of sleep deprivation are not as well researched as their cognitive counterparts.
What we do know is this: what impacts our brain, impacts our bodies. To lessen the impact of the repetitive action of training, sleep becomes very important. As athletes, we are constantly stressing our bodies’ systems. Asking ourselves to push harder, go faster. These demands cause breakdown at the cellular level that must be repaired for us to be able to perform at the same level or faster, time after time. Essential to cellular growth and repair is the human Growth Hormone (hGH). This hormone is secreted on a daily basis when sleeping, allowing the body to respond to the need for muscle, bone, and tissue growth, therefore readying you for your next bout of intense training.
Another factor in athletic performance is fuel (aka: energy). You might already know that the body uses different forms of energy (fat vs carbohydrates) depending on how hard or how long you are exercising and that fat is stored in adipose cells and glycogen is stored in muscle cells. One more obvious point is that when these stores are depleted, you feel fatigue. Now, here’s where sleep becomes important. Studies have indicated that lack of sleep reduces the body’s ability to metabolize glucose. Remember how I said we use glycogen for fuel during exercise? Well, glycogen is the stored form of glucose. If you don’t metabolize well, you won’t be replenishing your stores. Low glycogen stores = fatigue and poor performance.
Finally, if you don’t get enough sleep you can add ‘sleep loss’ to your list of stresses in your life (and no one needs more stress). When under stress, the body releases a hormone called cortisol. A long-standing, high concentration of cortisol has been linked to excessive protein breakdown and tissue wasting. For athletes performing intense, prolonged exercise, it also increases risk of ketosis. Ketosis is when the body burns fat for energy. Sounds good, right? Wrong. When using fat for energy, the body produces excessive amounts of ketones in the blood. This can cause serious problems for athletes, including (among other things) depleted glycogen reserves, dehydration, and poor athletic performance.
In summary, sleep is an important part of life, and as essential to performance as a training session when it comes to athletes. Without the body’s ability to repair at a cellular level and effectively replenish glycogen stores, we will not be able to progress in training no matter how many repeats we are supposed to do.
So what can you do to get more sleep? Here are a few tips:
- Keep your bed and wake time consistent, even on weekends
- Create a relaxing bedtime routine, avoiding anything stressful
- Create a sleep conducive environment – cool, quiet, comfortable, and dark
- Don’t eat or exercise within 2-3 hours of going to bed
- Avoid stimulants close to bedtime (caffeine, nicotine)
- Avoid things that will disrupt sleep (ie: alcohol)
- Coach Maya Hunnewell
References:
1. Bonnet MH. Acute sleep deprivation. In: Kryger M, Roth T, Dement WC, editors. Principles and practice of sleep medicine. 4th. Ed. ed. Philadelphia: Saunders; 2005. p. 51-66.
2. Oliver SJ, Costa RJ, Laing SJ, Bilzon JL, Walsh NP. One night of sleep deprivation decreased treadmill endurance performance. Eur J Applied Physiology 2009 Sept; 107(2) 155-61
3. Van Cauter E, Knutson K. Leproult R, Spiegel K. The impact of sleep deprivation on hormones and metabolism. Univer. Of Chicago.
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