How Sleep Helps Student Athletes

2 min read

It is often joked about that we need our beauty sleep at night, but we really do need to get our sleep. A good night’s sleep will not only make you feel good, it will boost your mood and get rid of those bags under your eyes. It also helps to improve your heart, weight and mind.

But what else does it do for you?

Sleep helps athletes perform at their best

Did you ever get told about sleeping with a textbook under your pillow, and in the morning you would wake up filled with knowledge?

This isn’t exactly how it works, but your memory does improve while you are sleeping.

While you sleep, your mind doesn’t stop. Your brain takes memories it remembers and it reorganises and reconstructs them. Along with increasing your creativity, it also increases your physical performance. It is crucial for athletes to achieve and adequate night’s sleep before game days. Increasing your sleep can improve athletes’ sprint time and stamina, as well as decreasing their level of fatigue.

How much sleep is right for athletes?

Sleep may be beneficial, but don’t go sleeping your days away. Getting too much or too little sleep has actually been shown to shorten your lifespan. It is recommended to achieve 7-8 hours of sleep every night to have your body function at its peak ability.

Sleep has a direct correlation with your quality of life. It also has the ability to help your body fight off inflammation.

What happens if student athletes don’t get enough sleep?

College students have been found to experience worse GPAs when they do not receive adequate amounts of sleep. A lot of the time, students have to sacrifice their precious hours of sleep to finish projects or to study for finals weeks. However, in doing so, students can actually be harming themselves because after their bodies reach a certain point, they aren’t going to learn any more. This would not only jeopardise a student athlete’s grade, but also their eligibility to play with their team.

So next time someone is giving you a hard time about getting your beauty sleep, just remember all the amazing benefits it has for your health.

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