How Do Olympic Athletes Deal with Sleep?
Elite athletes worry about their sleep just like the rest of us
We recognized some time ago that sleep is where the body recovers and heals itself. From professional athletes to weekend warriors, sleep can improve performance on the court, at the stadium, and everywhere in between. The world is watching as its elite athletes are competing at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games from July 26, 2024 – August 11, 2024. We thought this was the perfect time to investigate the way these athletes deal with sleep and getting enough of it.
Elite athletes can suffer from poor sleep
You might think that one of the first things an elite athlete must achieve is great sleep in order to reach their peak performance; however, that is not necessarily the case. The International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance studied the results of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index that was given as part of a health-history questionnaire to approximately 1,600 Team USA athletes, as reported in, “How Do Olympic Athletes Sleep?” More than one-third of the athletes reported poor sleep. The men seemed to sleep better with “better global PSQI scores, shorter sleep latency, less sleep disturbance, and less use of sleep medication than women.” The data identified “groups at greatest risk for poor sleep, who may benefit most from targeted sleep interventions.”
Olympic athletes receive assistance in optimizing their sleep
For the athletes, “Sleep is their number-one concern,” advised Jessica Bartley, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s ("USOPC") Senior Director of Psychological Services. Like the rest of us, “life circumstances” can make getting sufficient, quality sleep challenging for Olympic athletes.
That's why the USOPC introduced a Sleep Optimization Program to which athletes could opt in or out. After their sleep was tracked for a few days, those athletes who opted in met with sleep medicine and other experts regarding changes they could make to get their best sleep in Paris. Suggestions included ways to minimize jet lag by waking early leading up to their travel, creating a bedtime routine, avoiding electronics before bed, and limiting light pollution. These are the same suggestions that we trumpet in our articles. As with those of us who are not elite athletes, Olympians must focus on sleep without making it an additional stressor that keeps them awake!
Athletes are like the rest of us when it comes to sleep
Last year, an article titled “World Sleep Day: Olympians share techniques used to optimize performance,” which appeared in olympics.com, revealed some of the ways Olympians address sleep in their efforts to optimize their performance. Methods ranged from wearing glasses to avoiding blue light while traveling to reduce jetlag to the more extreme length of depriving themselves of sleep for limited periods to be prepared to perform even should they miss sleep prior to competition.
Athlete365, “the official community for elite Athletes and Olympians,” includes a course devoted to helping athletes understand the importance of sufficient, quality sleep to “health, well-being and performance.” The course includes videos on strategies and techniques to make sleep a priority, including creating a night-time routine and introducing the 4-7-8 breathing technique for relaxation, recommendations we’ve included in previous articles. As it turns out, the strategies recommended most often to improve the sleep of elite athletes will work for the rest of us.
Whatever your level of competition, we wish you a great night’s sleep.
-The Team at down etc
Read more:
Athletes Need Their ZZZ’s, Too
Can Beginning Yoga Practice Improve Your Sleep?
5 Ways Light Can Affect Your Sleep
Bedtime Rituals for Better Sleep
5 Ways Light Can Affect Your Sleep
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