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Stanford University provides hard evidence on the importance of sleep in athletic performance

Source: Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic and Research Laboratory as published by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine

We have previously written here about the national epidemic of sleep deprivation among youth, and the negative implications for athletic performance.  An on-going study by Cheri Mah of the Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic and Research Laboratory provides hard evidence on the impact of proper sleep in athletic performance.  Mah offers five practical tips for helping athletes improve their performance with proper sleep.

Read the full article here

Sleep and Sports: Get the Winning Edge!

Source: National Sleep Foundation

The National Sleep Foundation gives us a fresh look into the affect that sleep deprivation has on sport performance. This article describes how sleep deprivation is a national epidemic.  It also outlines how sleep deprivation impacts athletic motor function, visual and auditory reaction time, cardiovascular and mental performance, and much more. No matter the level you are coaching, sleep deprivation is probably a factor.

The bottom line: One of the best things coaches and parents can do for athletes is promote proper sleep. 

Click here to view full article at the National Sleep Foundation's website. 

Energizing to Win

Help your athletes build their energy through simple but consistent healthy habits.

It is surprising how many athletes under-perform because they lack energy.  They come to practice or competition wanting to do well, but cannot seem to raise the energy necessary to deliver a crisp performance. Even athletes with tremendous athletic gifts often find themselves feeling sluggish or depleted for reasons they do not fully understand.  The coach gets annoyed, the athlete gets frustrated, and a potentially good day is wasted.

In the The Power of Full Engagement Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz discuss the importance of building energy for optimal performance.  They make the point that physical energy is crucial to overall performance not just only for the obvious reasons, but also because of its affect on the mental, emotional, and spiritual energy of the athlete. 

For all of our athletes, building energy begins in the physical sphere with nutrition, hydration, exercise, and rest.  When any one of these energy-builders is out of alignment, there is likely to be a depletion of energy and a drop in performance.  We can help our athletes become more consistently energetic by reminding them to:

• Eat to win.  Most young athletes do not eat a diet sufficient to meet their energy needs.  Encourage your athletes to eat a balanced diet with plenty of nutrients, and avoid sugary meals that could cause blood sugar to spike during practice and competition.

• Hydrate to win.  Many young athletes are chronically dehydrated and have no idea how this condition saps their energy.  Focusing on hydration on the day of the game is not enough.  Encourage your athletes to drink six to eight glasses of water a day, every day. 

• Exercise to win.  Most young athletes get plenty of exercise, but too many fail to work out intelligently for their sport.  Help your athletes understand the importance of stamina, strength, flexibility, speed, and balance in addition to skill development.  Equip them with plans to work smart so they can build their bodies without succumbing to extreme fatigue or overuse injuries.

• Rest to win.  Young athletes need recovery time and adequate sleep to optimize their energy for performance.  The National Sleep Foundation and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that youth should get at least eight hours and preferably nine hours of sleep per night.  Based on this standard, the large majority of American youth are chronically sleep deprived.  The studies which show the relationship between sleep deprivation and performance are clear: lack of sleep hurts academic performance and psychomotor performance.  Think carefully about early a.m. practices which leave athletes with little recovery time and less than eight hours of sleep.  This is especially if your athletes are driving cars to and from practice.

Given the hectic lives we all lead, it is easy to overlook these four basics of energy building for athletes.  But in encouraging healthy eating, hyrdration, exercise, and rest, you can help your athletes generate the energy they need to win in competition and in the classroom.  Energy building is also an area where parents can have a tremendous positive impact.  Think about enlisting your parents in a collaborative effort to help your athletes energize.

As always, thank you for elevating your athletes!

 

Winning with The Power of Full Engagement

"We live in digital time.  Our pace is rushed, rapid fire, and relentless.  Facing crushing workloads, we try to cram as much as possible into every day.  We're wired up, but we're melting down."(Jim Loehr, EdD, author of The Power of Full Engagement)

These words aptly describe the lifestyle of all too many of us.  Survey after survey shows that people feel stressed out and short of time to meet the multiple demands in their lives.  Our athletes, too, are prone to stress.  Research shows that a surprising number of young people in this country feel overwhelmed by the often competing demands of academics and athletics and family and community life.   

The good news is this:  There is now available a strategy which can help us and our athletes not only survive but thrive under high stress.  That strategy is The Power of Full Engagement. 

Developed by Jim Loehr at the Human Performance Institute, The Power of Full Engagement is based on the principle that managing energy, not time, is the key to optimal performance.  The number of hours in a day is fixed, but the quantity and quality of energy available to us is not.  By managing our energy more skillfully, we can accomplish more in less time at a higher level of performance.

The Power of Full Engagement is not just a 'philosophy' or 'set of values' by which we might live our lives.  It is a science-based approach which is grounded in 25 years of work with people from the fields of business, law enforcement, medicine, and sports to help them perform more effectively under pressure.  Sixteen number ones in the world in their sport have trained with the Human Performance Institute.

Not everyone can afford the time and money it takes to train at the Human Performance Institute.  But we can learn a great deal from the The Power of Full Engagement  book.  The book teaches practical strategies for becoming more physically energized, emotionally connected, mentally focused, and spiritually aligned in our lives.  We learn that simple things like the way we sleep, eat, breath, and move throughout the day can have a dramatic impact on our energy and performance. 

We can learn the strategies in The Power of Full Engagement ourselves, and just as important, we can teach these strategies to our athletes.  As I noted earlier, The Power of Full Engagement was developed in part based on the habits of elite athletes.  By teaching our athletes just a few simple strategies from the book, we can help them become more energized and focused in practice and performance.  Specifically, we can help our athletes develop greater:

• Physical energy to perform

• Emotional energy to meet challenges

• Mental energy to heighten focus

• Spiritual energy to sustain motivation.

In the coming weeks, we will be publishing some practical suggestions for incorporating The Power of Full Engagement into coaching practice.  In the meantime, take a few minutes to check out the book at the Human Performance Institute website.  While you are there, take a free assessment to see how 'fully  engaged' you are. Use the results to gain a better understanding of how you can boost your energy and performance as a coach and in every aspect of your life.

 As always, thank you for elevating your athletes!

 

How Sleep Wins

By Steve Horan

As coaches we often tell our athletes to 'wake up out there!'  This call to alertness might be more than a figure of speech.  Sleep deprivation among youth is a growing national concern.  And, we are learning more about the fascinating linkages between sleep deprivation and athletic performance.  We can help our athletes win and remain safe and healthy by promoting proper sleep.

1. Four out of five American youth are sleep deprived

According to the National Sleep Foundation, four out of five Americans age 11-17 are sleep deprived.  Experts recommend that school-age children and teens should get nine hours of sleep a day.   Most get one to two hours fewer than that, and many get even less sleep.  This is no big deal on any given day, but when this happens on a regular basis, chronic sleep deprivation sets in.  It is also worth noting that the large majority of parents are unaware that their children are sleep deprived. 

2. Sleep deprivation is harmful to youth development

In any given situation, sleep deprivation can hinder awareness, thought processing, decision making, and reaction time.  Over time, chronic sleep deprivation can alter metabolic processes essential for good physical and mental health.  Studies show that sleep deprived youth are more susceptible to academic trouble, depression, lack of energy, and various other physical problems.    Most recently, more attention is being given to the connections between sleep deprivation and childhood obesity, and sleep deprivation and drowsy driving among teens.

3. Sleep deprivation impairs athletic performance

It is no surprise that sleep deprivation impairs athletic performance as well.  Here's how:

• In competition, prolonged sleep deprivation can muddle an athlete's awareness, decision making, and reaction time.  Athletic performance cannot help but suffer as a result. 
  

• In training, sleep deprivation can hinder an athlete's energy balance and muscle & tissue recovery.  Sleep deprivation can affect normal metabolic function, including the production of glucose and cortisal. Glucose is a primary source of energy for athletes.  Cortisol is essential for tissue repair and growth.  Over time, abnormal levels of glucose and cortisol caused by sleep deprivation can sap an athlete's energy and diminish the athlete's ability to recover from heavy training.
  

• Lack of sleep can also limit an athlete's ability to deeply learn new skills.  The human brain continues to learn subconsciously while we sleep.  That's one reason athletes struggle to learn something new on one day, but be much more proficient on the following day.  Overnight, the new skill has had a chance to 'sink in' a little deeper.  When athletes are routinely deprived of adequate sleep, this learning advantage is compromised..
  

4. Promoting Proper Sleep

As funny as it sounds, sleep wins.  We can help our athletes stay healthier and performance better by proactively promoting the value of adequate sleep.

• Teach your athletes that sleep wins.  Encourage your athletes to view adequate sleep as a winning practice essential for both recovery from training and peak competitive performance.  Talk about sleep alongside good nutrition and proper hydration as essential core heath activities of serious athletes.
  

• Think carefully about the impact of the athletic schedule on the 'sleep banks' of your athletes.  Weigh the value of early morning practices against the overall recovery needs of your athletes.  If you have to hold early morning practices, be aware that they are likely to underperform for reasons beyond their complete control.  Also work with your athletes to help them maintain a reasonable sleep schedule around morning practices.  Also encourage parents (rather than athletes) to drive to early morning practices so that athletes can avoid drowsy driving risks.
  

• Educate parents about the importance of sleep for their athletes.  Studies show the vast majority are unaware of their children's chronic sleep deprivation
  

Coaching Points

1.  Most American youth are chronically sleep deprived, with only 20 percent getting enough sleep on a regular basis. 

2. Sleep deprivation is harmful to youth development, affecting physical health, mental health, academic performance, and driving ability.

3. Sleep deprivation can also impair athletic performance, training, and learning.

4.  Teach your athletes that sleep wins -  not just the night before a competition, but every day.

5.  Think carefully about the impact of the athletic schedule - especially early morning practices - on the 'sleep banks' of your athletes. 

6. Educate parents about the importance of sleep for their athletes.  Most are probably unaware of the problem.

Learn More

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1. Sleep-Deprived Teens Paying Price

Only 20 percent of American teens get the recommended amount of sleep.  From CBS News.

2. America's Sleep-Deprived Teens Nodding Off at School, Behind the Wheel

Compelling data on the relationship between sleep and teen health.  Scary data on the relationship between sleep and teen driving.  From the National Sleep Foundation.

3. Teen Sleep - Why Is Your Teen So Tired?

Refer your parents to this good advice on promoting good sleep habits.  From the Mayo Clinic.

4. Reduced Sleep Can Increase Childhood Obesity Risk

A summary of research from the the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, from Science Daily

5. The Case for Sleep

Explains how adolescents who do not get enough sleep are extremely impaired in the morning, with obvious implications for morning athletic performance. From the US Tennis Association.

6. Sleep Deprivation Can Hinder Sports Performance

Explains how a chronic lack of sleep can affect metabolic function - and by extension, athletic performance.  From About.com.

7. Sleep May Be Athletes' Best Performance Booster

Explains how sleep deprivation hinders not only physical performance, but the cognitive learning which is so necessary for performance improvement.  From Psychiatry News.