Sleep and sports performance: upcoming seminar to offer look at best practices for rest, recuperation
Anyone who has tried to play a high-level sport after a long day at work or after getting little sleep the night before knows just what kind of an effect a lack of sleep can have on performance.
The Districts for Culture, Recreation and Sport will be holding a seminar on Thursday, Apr. 22 to show just how much of a role sleep can play in athlete’s lives and how it affects almost every aspect of preparation and play. The seminar - titled Sleep & Performance and facilitated by Sports Medicine and Science Council of Saskatchewan dietician Heather Hynes - will be an hour-long discussion looking at ideal sleep quality and quantity as well as how deprivation affects athlete’s ability. The event will also touch on how travel affects sleep and how rest affects nutrition, exercise, mental and medical considerations.
There will be a handful of tips and tricks to help athletes sleep better, as well.
Fortunately, there have been many studies looking at sleep and athletic performance, and the data is unequivocal: a lack of sleep leads to more injuries, reduced accuracy, speed and strength, slower reaction times and poor decision making. All factors that become more critical the higher level of competition you’re in.
Two sessions will take place, from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. and from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., with a question and answer session to follow.
Pre-registration is required 48 hours prior to the event, and if you have any questions, contact Brennen Ronovsky with the Southwest District for Culture, Recreation and Sport at (306) 693-7304 or at brennen@gosouthwest.ca. The workshops are part of an ongoing series of sports-focussed seminars taking place on a monthly basis. The upcoming schedule is as follows:
May: Drugs in sport education and awareness; June: Sport nutrition supplements;
July: Mental performance;
August: Mental performance;
September: thinking patterns;
October: Imagery and teams in culture; November: Routines;
December: Ideal performance states. Information for upcoming seminars, including dates and registration, will be released at the beginning of each month.
For more on the Southwest District for Culture, Recreation and Sport, be sure to check out their website at gosouthwest.ca.