Whether you’re an amateur gym goer or professional athlete, there are three areas of fitness to keep in mind: diet, training, and recovery. While diet and training involve the most work, don’t neglect recovery. Massages and ice baths help mitigate injuries, but even sleep has a large role in your fitness goals. Here are some of the different ways sleep can improve athletic performance.
Helps You Recover Faster
One of the main benefits of sleep for athletes is that it helps shorten recovery time. Whether you’re training for a marathon, strength sport, or other athletic endeavor, recovery is essential. Diet, training, and recovery are the perfect triad for optimal athletic performance. Skipping one of those—in this case, rest and recovery—can inhibit performance during your next training session. You’ll feel lethargic and unmotivated with improper rest, which may risk injury.
Stay Regimented Through Daily Activities
Getting eight hours of quality rest also helps you stay regimented. There are many reasons to track your sleep, but athletes must do so to stay on track of their goals. After all, fitness is a lifestyle. Whether you’re in the middle of a bulk or working tireless on a cut, sleep is imperative to maintaining a regimented schedule. As one would track their diet and workouts, don’t be afraid to track your sleep. You’ll see that control is one of the most important facets to achieving your fitness goals.
Regulate Mood and Hormones
You may not realize that mood and hormone control affect athletic performance, both of which a healthy night of sleep helps monitor. Simply, some of the different ways sleep can improve athletic performance is through hormone regulation. There’s a lot of internal work involved with a healthy night’s rest. Not only does your body recover from strenuous activity, but sleep regulates serotonin and dopamine—two essential hormones for happiness and mood.
Not to mention, sleep also regulates your body’s production of ghrelin, the hormone responsible for appetite, fat disposition, and growth hormone. Whether you want to lose fat or build muscle, sleep is essential for doing so. Athletes will better notice progress in and outside the gym with proper sleep to help manage their moods, appetites, and genetic potential.
