Sleep And The Youth Athlete

Americans now get about 25 percent less sleep than they did a century ago. This isn’t just a matter of fatigue, it causes serious damage to your athletes body.

Sleep deprivation can alter your levels of thyroid and stress hormones, which play a part in everything from your memory and immune system to your heart and metabolism. Over time, lack of sleep can lead to:

• Weight gain
• Depression
• High blood sugar levels and an increased risk of diabetes
• Brain damage
• Decrease sports performance

Fortunately, there are many steps you can take to get the sleep your body craves. Here are 10 to start with. 

1. Sprinkle just-washed sheets and pillowcases with lavender water, and then iron them before making your child’s bed. The scent is proven to promote relaxation.

2.  Have a certain time  the TV goes off and your child begins his nightly routine for sleep prepartion (bath,teeth brushing a story read by you or him etc.

 3. Choose the right pillow — neck pillows, which resemble a rectangle with a depression in the middle, can enhance the quality of your sleep and reduce neck pain.

4. Paint your bedroom sage green, or another soothing color, which will provide a visual reminder of sleep.

5. Move your bed away from outside walls, which will help cut down on noise.

6. Kick your dog or cat out of your bedroom — studies have shown that they snore!

7. Take a hot bath 90 to 120 minutes before bedtime; it increases your core body temperature, and when it abruptly drops when you get out of the bath, it signals your body that you are ready for sleep.

8.   Identify and play soft relaxing music your child enjoys at bed time. (Lauren loves Chris Botti)

9. Put heavier curtains over the bedroom windows — even the barely noticeable light from streetlights, a full moon, or your neighbor’s house can interfere with the circadian rhythm changes you need to fall asleep.

10. Eat a handful of walnuts or drink a warm cup of milk wit vanilla before bed — they’re a good source of tryptophan, a sleep-enhancing amino acid. 

                   ****WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY****

The study, authored by Cheri Mah of Stanford University, was conducted on six healthy students on the Stanford men’s basketball team, who maintained their typical sleep-wake patterns for a two-week baseline followed by an extended sleep period in which they obtained as much extra sleep as possible. To assess improvements in athletic performance, the students were judged based on their sprint time and shooting percentages.

Significant improvements in athletic performance were observed, including faster sprint time and increased free-throws. Athletes also reported increased energy and improved mood during practices and games, as well as a decreased level of fatigue.

“Although much research has established the detrimental effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive function, mood and performance, relatively little research has investigated the effects of extra sleep over multiple nights on these variables, and even less on the specific relationship between extra sleep and athletic performance. This study illuminated this latter relationship and showed that obtaining extra sleep was associated with improvements in indicators of athletic performance and mood among members of the men’s basketball team.”

The amount of sleep a person gets affects his or her physical health, emotional well-being, mental abilities, productivity and performance. Recent studies associate lack of sleep with serious health problems such as an increased risk of depression, obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

An abstract of this research was presented June 13 @ SLEEP 2007, the 21st Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS).

Adapted from materials provided by American Academy of Sleep Medicine, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Track Mom

Related posts:

1. Sleep and Improved Sports Performance Naturally….
2. Sleep Deprivation Can Hinder Sports Performance
3. Reducing Your Stress Helps You And Your Youth Athlete
4. Setting A Better Example For Your Youth Athlete
5. Acupucture For Your Youth Athlete