Snooze control
I used to do most of my training runs when my children were asleep, which meant I was often neglecting quality rest. But after some substandard performances I read Sleep (Penguin), by sports sleep coach Nick Littlehales (sportsleepcoach.com). He made me completely rethink my at t itude towards shut- eye.
‘Sleep is more important than ever,’ says Littlehales. ‘In the Western world of coffee, technology, electric light and 24-hour communication, we have been taking away all the recovery breaks we used to naturally have, without any real knowledge of the impact. Sleep is a vital part of training and we need to think of it that way.’
But Littlehales says the eight-hoursfor- all concept is a myth. Instead, everyone has different physical and mental recover y t imes, but f ive 90- minute sleep cycles a day is optimal. That suits our circadian [natural biological] rhythm and a polyphasic [sleeping several times within 24 hours] approach to sleep. ‘ Ideally, elite athletes will have an early afternoon power nap – which our ancestors used to do: we often feel sluggish around that time.’
Ideally, our natural downtimes – early evening is often another one – shouldn’t be fought against, but, rather, embraced. ‘ Not everyone can have a power nap at work. But, instead, schedule in 15- minute Controlled Recovery Periods (CRP), where you might just zone out, allow yourself to relax, be calm, rest.’
When it comes to t radit ional bedtime, he advises we know what time we need to get up, and work back from there in 90-minute cycles.
Littlehales’ tips for better sleep include no screens for an hour before bedtime or an hour after waking, get a mattress topper, go for complete darkness, low temperatures and less/no blue (ie screen) lights in the bedroom, and sleep in the foetal position on your non-dominant side.
The biggest obstacle to quality sleep used to be my young children’s unpredictable waking times. But the answer to that was to knacker them out during the day, with those corestrength workouts in the park.