A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME
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Effects of recovery strategies on sleep wo studied the effects of post-train-ing recovery strategies intended to im-prove sleep and subsequent performance.
One study (10) examined the effects of whole-body cryotherapy during a period of increased training stress, using a cross-over design. Sleep duration, onset, and ef-ficiency were sustained when the subjects received cryotherapy, but decreased during the control condition when they didn’t re-ceive cryotherapy. However, sleep quality didn’t differ between conditions. Further-more, heart rate and blood lactate respons-es to exercise indicated lrespons-ess physical fatigue with the cryotherapy condition.
Te other study (11) examined the effects of two weeks of night time red light thera-py. Participants receiving red light therapy reported improvement in subjective sleep quality compared to a placebo treatment (non-red light exposure). Morning mela-tonin levels were also higher with red light therapy, however, potentially indicating a shift in circadian rhythm. Participants tended to increase their performance on a distance running test during their two weeks of red light therapy, while there were no performance changes with the placebo therapy.
Interpretation
In the interest of not letting this snow-ball into a 50 page novella, I’ll take a cue from this review and only discuss the as-pects of sleep that are directly relevant for
performance. Tere are so many interest-ing thinterest-ings about sleep – for example, do you know why you feel tired after your first night of sleep in a new place? Only half of your brain is fully asleep! (12) – but I have to draw the line somewhere. I’ll try to keep this discussion focused on the stuff covered in the systematic review.
Te biggest takeaway from all of these studies is that nothing beats making sure your head is on your pillow for enough hours each night. Both studies examin-ing the effects of sleep extension (increas-ing time in bed to 9-10+ hours per night) found marked performance improvements in high-level athletes in a short period of time, while all other interventions had mixed results. An additional conference abstract examining the effects of sleep ex-tension in elite swimmers had similarly eye-popping findings. Furthermore, an-other recent study found that more suc-cessful netball teams tend to sleep more during multi-day competitions than less successful teams (13). In spite of these find-ings, and in spite of the fact that sufficient sleep decreases injury risk and improves body composition (14), most athletes av-erage fewer than 8 hours of sleep per night (15). It’s likely that the sleep requirements for athletes to perform and adapt optimal-ly are greater than the sleep needs of the general population: 9-10 hours per night instead of the commonly-recommended 7-8 hours per night.
Te strategy with the second most sup-port was improving sleep hygiene. Good
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sleep hygiene habits include: ensuring that your bedroom is dark (blackout curtains can help immensely), quiet, and cool but comfortable; avoiding light from electron-ic develectron-ices for at least 30 minutes before bed; using your bedroom only for sleep and sex (not for work or V); and having a consistent bedtime schedule to help you wind down. While sleep hygiene isn’t the most exciting topic, it may decrease time required to fall asleep and improve sleep quality. Sleep hygiene won’t trump sleep duration, but sleep hygiene strategies are generally free/cheap and easy to imple-ment.
Overall, the evidence regarding nap-ping and the various recovery strategies is pretty lackluster. While the cryotherapy intervention seems promising, it’s not fea-sible for most people, and it may actual-ly hamper training adaptations, assuming it affects muscles post-exercise the same way cold water immersion does (16). I can see the acute efficacy of napping if you’re training twice per day, but since it has the potential to hinder night time sleep, and since we know that getting more night time sleep increases performance more
re-liably than napping does, I’d recommend using the time you’d otherwise spend nap-ping to get more sleep at night.
One other strategy not discussed in this systematic review worth paying attention to is keeping a consistent circadian rhythm.
Tis means you go to sleep and wake up at roughly the same time each day. Keeping a consistent sleep/wake schedule can also increase sleep duration and quality (17).
It’s worth keeping in mind that poor sleep is both a cause and a symptom of overtraining. If you find yourself feeling worn down and you have issues sleeping in spite of feeling exhausted (inability to fall asleep, waking up a lot throughout the night, etc.), it may be wise to dial back your training and increase calorie intake for a couple of weeks to see if your sleep issues are being caused by excessive accumulated training stress.
Next Steps
You may have noticed a glaring lack of studies on strength athletes in the pres-ent systematic review. While we know
APPLICATION AND TAKEAWAYS
To improve your sleep quality, focus on keeping a consistent sleep/wake cycle and proper sleep hygiene. To really reap the benets of sleep for athletic performance, aim to spend at least 9-10 hours per night in bed. If you’re training hard but still having trouble sleeping, it’s worth dialing back your training and eating more for a couple of weeks, since poor sleep in spite of intense training is a leading indicator of overtraining.
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that one night of poor sleep doesn’t seem to affect maximal strength much (18), I’d love to see a chronic sleep extension study in strength athletes. My anecdotal experi-ence indicates that sleeping 9-10+ hours per night massively aids in strength gains, but I’d love to see some solid evidence on the topic.
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Study Reviewed:
Study Reviewed: Endurance TEndurance Training Intensity Does raining Intensity Does Not MediateNot Mediate Interference T
Interference To Maximal Lower-Body Strength o Maximal Lower-Body Strength Gain During Gain During Short-TShort-Termerm Concurrent Training
Concurrent Training. Fyfe et al. (2016). Fyfe et al. (2016)
B Y G R E G N U C K O L S B Y G R E G N U C K O L S
If you need to add cardio to your lifting, is it better to stick If you need to add cardio to your lifting, is it better to stick with high intensity intervals (which some
with high intensity intervals (which some have called “anabolichave called “anabolic cardio”
cardio”), or ), or to opt to opt for traditional moderate intensity cardio? Thisfor traditional moderate intensity cardio? This was the rst study
was the rst study designed to actually answer that question.designed to actually answer that question.