I have taken care of many children who like to play basketball. Under the heavy academic pressure, they are unwilling to give up their favorite sports and choose to sacrifice sleep. You must know that adequate “long-term” sleep is more important than a good night’s rest “before the game”. Sports medicine research tells us that good sleep can affect five aspects of exercise…
Athletes who get enough sleep perform better
Parents should be concerned about the current situation of sleep deprivation among Taiwanese teenagers. However, in addition to the issue of tutoring, I found that there are also some children who cannot get enough sleep because of physical training.
Sports should be a good thing, but since the class time cannot be changed in school, whether it is various teams, swimming teams, track and field teams, martial arts training, etc., team training is almost always squeezed in before classes in the early morning, or starts after classes in the evening . I have taken care of many children who like to play basketball. Under the pressure of heavy schoolwork, they are unwilling to give up their favorite sports and choose to sacrifice sleep, but I must say, this is really not a good idea!
Sports medicine research shows that if a person is deprived of sleep for a long time, not only will he not be able to read well and his mood will be unstable, but he may also perform poorly in his favorite sports: he could have reached the finals, but instead failed in the first round. Being eliminated means you are less lucky, and it also increases the chance of sports injuries!
Basketball players’ key to peak performance: sleep
According to a 2011 study from Stanford University School of Medicine, sleep is an important factor in reaching peak athletic performance. Researchers worked with the Stanford University men’s basketball team to observe two consecutive basketball seasons and use “sleep well and fully” as the players’ “training menu” to see if it can improve their sports performance.
Researchers asked players to sleep nine to 10 hours a night for five to seven weeks and avoid drinking coffee and alcohol. Since American college basketball teams need to fly to other cities to play games, if they cannot get 9 to 10 hours of sleep due to jet lag, they will make up for it by taking a nap.
After sleep intervention, the players not only ran faster, reacted faster, and even shot more accurately. Data shows that players who get enough sleep can sprint 4% faster, their free throw shooting percentage increases by 9%, their three-point shooting percentage increases by 9.2%, and their reaction speed increases by 12%. With these data improvements, the team’s record has certainly become better.
Five aspects of sleep affecting exercise performance
It is important to know that getting enough sleep “in the long term” is more important than getting a good night’s rest “before the game”. Sports medicine research tells us that good sleep can affect five aspects of exercise:
1. Improve speed, response and accuracy:
In addition to the above-mentioned studies on improving the performance of basketball players, another study on female college tennis players showed that increasing sleep can increase the accuracy of serving from 36% to 42%; swimmers who have slept well have better jump reactions when the gun sounds. The time has also improved by 17%.
2. Improve endurance:
Lack of sleep will make athletes less physically fit; good sleep can help with glucose metabolism and help stabilize blood sugar, which not only improves endurance during exercise, but also stabilizes emotions during competition.
3. Improve sports skills:
9 to 10 hours of continuous sleep every night will help consolidate muscle memory, so that training results can be doubled with half the effort. Without adequate sleep, athletes spend a lot of time training, but muscle memory cannot enter the brain, which is actually a waste of time.
4. Reduce injuries and improve immunity:
Sleep can promote the secretion of growth hormone. Since exercise will inevitably cause muscle tissue injuries, a good sleep can help you recover faster. Sleep also lowers stress hormones, thereby improving immunity and reducing the frequency of illness. After practicing for a whole year and getting sick before an important game, wouldn’t it be a waste of time?
5. Other performances:
A study of Major League Baseball players found that players who got enough sleep were better at judging good and bad pitches. Another study looked at career statistics and found that 72% of players who got enough sleep were still playing in the major leagues three years later, while only 14% of players who didn’t get enough sleep were still in the major leagues.
