Why is sleep important for swimmers?

Anyone who loves an active lifestyle will know that nutrition and training are essential aspects of a sports training plan. But what about sleep? How important is that? The completely neglected subject can have a significant impact on your athletic performance, positively or negatively. Take a look at your current sleeping regime and see if you can make improvements in this area and then see how your performance is affected in the pool and judge for yourself how much sleep is important to your performance. . 

Why is it so important?

Experts always change their recommendations for how much sleep we should all get, but it usually occurs around the mark of 7 to 8 hours. Not getting enough sleep has consequences in the waking world. This can impair cognitive performance, hurt glucose metabolism and eliminate your appetite regulation. These negative results can be avoided by getting the recommended 8 hours of sleep per night to avoid what scientists call "neuro-behavioral defects".

Our sleep provides our brain and body with energy and, if our sleep is cut off, the body does not have time to release hormones, consolidate or repair memories and, in general, do all that It does when we sleep. Athletes in particular require non-REM sleep it is important to recover as this is the time when the body releases the growth hormones that provide optimal conditions for anabolism or energy storage.

How much sleep should I get?

If you swim a lot, say you are in the middle of an intensive training diet, it is important to give you another hour of sleep in addition to the 8 hours you should follow in your normal routine.

"Sufficient sleep is crucial to athletic performance," says David Geier, MD, an orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist in Charleston, SC.

"Just as athletes need more calories than most people when they are training, they need more sleep too." Sleep is important because it is time that the mind and body recover from intense training, busy schedules and work or the school pressures we face every day.

"Not getting enough sleep can decrease the amount of glycogen your body produces and the carbohydrates are not stored as efficiently for the release of energy later.So, the less sleep you have, the more fatigue you will feel, the lower Levels of concentration and low energy levels in terms of competition time, and may also result in an increased post-training recovery period due to reduced recovery efficiency when you have not slept sufficiently.

Can sleep affect my performance in the pool?

Absolutely. There are many studies out there that focus on how sleep affects athletic performance. It is worth adding an extra hour to your sleep, so do not be at night, take a nap somewhere. In a research study, swimmers' sleep time was increased to 10 hrs / night for six to seven weeks and the results showed that sprint reaction time of 15 m, rotational time and mood All shown an improvement.

The data from the studies suggest that if you increase the amount of sleep an athlete gets, this may be correlated with an increase in their performance. A study by the Stanford University basketball team revealed that after several months after adding nearly 2 hours of sleep to their diet, athletes were 5% faster and 9% more accurate with their Free throws.

Tips

• Regular and structured sleep. This one is simple, wake up and go to bed at the same time every day.

• Say no to caffeine and alcohol. You do not need it! This is bad for your nutritional goals and will have a negative effect on your sleeping habits. 

• Keep away from sleeping pills. Serious athletes need to pay attention to what they put into their bodies. Sleep pills will make you sleepy the next day. 

• No TV, telephone or computer in bed! The blue light from the screens has been shown to have a negative effect on our natural sleep patterns. Go to bed with a clear and focused mind. 

Source article: https://swimswam.com/how-important-is-sleep-for-swimmers/