Why is proper sleep important to athletes over the age of 30 years old?


A facetious answer to this question is that proper sleep is important to all athletes regardless of age.  The general purpose of sleep is to restore brain function and we require good quality sleep all throughout our lives in order to achieve this primary goal.  I think we all can agree that no matter the task at hand, whether it is a sporting event or a highly intellectual project, we are best served with having optimal brain function in order to perform at our best.  For the athlete specifically, a well rested brain is better able to make decisions, be creative, communicate, be motivated and withstand the mental and physiologic rigors of the competition or training exercise.  Recent data also suggests that learning a new athletic skill is closely tied to the quality and quantity of our rapid eye movement sleep (REM), a time in our sleep when we typically dream.  These studies showed that athletes

Posted in Author - Dr Peter Fort, Topic - Sleep.

4 Comments

  1. I heard once that getting more sleep is the one best thing you can do for your body. Do you agree? I tend to sleep very little during the week and go crazy on the weekends, often falling alsleep and staying asleep for over 12 hours. Is this behavior unhealthy?

  2. Dr. William Dement from Stanford University points out in his research on sleep deprivation, that nearly all people, whether they consider themselves sleep deprived or not, can initially obtain extra sleep. However, as accumulating extra sleep reduces carryover sleep debt, a point is reached where it is no longer possible to obtain extra sleep. At this point we can say that the person

  3. hi david im looking at the comments on
    having enough sleep most people especially athletes know how much sleep
    there bodies need if you work hard and
    push yourself i believe thats better
    for the body if a person is not to
    active thats not good most i firmly
    believe that everyone should have some
    form of exercice in their lives for a
    number of reasons to feel better in
    life is the biggest reason but yeah just
    wanted to give a little input on that
    thanks spring cole

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