Prop Stuart tapes his mouth shut to sleep!
WILL STUART has revealed his extreme commitment to England’s new sleep science techniques left him waking up in a panic in the early hours — due to having his mouth taped shut. The Bath prop, 25, is the senior tighthead in the Red Rose squad on this tour of Australia and is renowned as a champion sleeper in the ranks.
But he has embraced methods designed to improve the benefits of nocturnal rest, even though it caused initial anxiety. It was during the pre-tour training camps when England brought in a sleep scientist to address the players and Stuart has taken on even the most uncomfortable advice in the pursuit of a marginal gain. ‘I’ve started taping my mouth for sleeping,’ he said. ‘You tape up your lips so you make sure you nasal breathe when you’re sleeping. It’s supposed to be a more efficient oxygen intake.’ Asked to confirm it was not a wind-up, Stuart added: ‘Yeah, yeah. It is weird at first. You wake up in the middle of the night a couple of times like, “what is going on?” ‘You’re gasping for air, especially with a blocked nose. But you don’t get that feeling of waking up with your mouth feeling like
you’ve been dragged through the desert and you feel a bit more awake. So it’s better, but it is hard to get used to.’
The use of tape was just one approach Stuart adopted after the sleep scientist’s visit. Most of the other recommendations were more mundane.
‘A lot of the stuff was about winding down for an hour before sleep,’ said Stuart, ‘and she wasn’t too happy with two or three-hour naps after training! ‘There was a lot of stuff about caffeine intake and making sure your bed is primarily used for sleeping rather than sitting on it snacking or watching TV. She hated watching TV in bed. ‘There were a lot of little things. no phones in bed was one thing. Any blue lights before going to sleep is pretty bad, she said. ‘The recommended nap time was specifically 27 minutes, but if you go above 27 minutes, make sure it’s 90 minutes, so you get a full sleep cycle.’ Stuart managed a few full sleep cycles on the flight from London to Perth last week — a total of 12 hours. But he is not the only prop with a knack for dozing off. ‘Mako (Vunipola) is probably up there as well,’ he said. ‘I’ve roomed with him before. I don’t think we spoke for about three days, we just slept.’