The power of sleep

Last week I played three soccer games in 24 hours.  On Saturday night, I played a game of 8v8 on an over-20 league.  On Sunday afternoon, I played two regulation games in a row of 11v11 on a full sized soccer field in an over-25 league.  While both leagues are coed recreational leagues, both are also fairly competitive, with many players having played at the college level.  Everyone plays hard, especially in the 11v11 league.

I am 48 years old.  I have only been playing soccer for 3 years.  After the last game, I was physically exhausted, barely able to drive home, sore everywhere but especially in my lower body.

Yet the next day I felt fine.  I had plenty of energy and little soreness anywhere.  I even went to the gym for a squat workout.

So what happened?  Sleep happened.  I went to bed and slept for 10 hours.  I slept until I woke up and could not go back to sleep.


I am convinced that sleep is the single most important and overlooked factor in athletic performance for older athletes.  I have not bothered to dig up scientific evidence to back up my assertion, but I'm confident it exists.  Think about it.  The body uses sleep time to repair itself.  All animals must sleep.  So it stands to reason that the more you sleep, the more repair you get, and if you shortchange yourself on sleep, you shortchange yourself on repair and recovery.

If you have been around the CrossFit community, you have no doubt heard or participated in endlesss discussions about optimal training and diet methodology.  Many athletes carefully design their programming to optimize recovery, and track every bit of food eaten. Yet many of these same athletes routinely shortchange themselves on sleep, accepting 7 or less hours a night.

The demands of modern life are insidious.  Everyone has more to do in a day than they have hours to do it in.  Once work is done, TV and the internet beckon.  It is very easy to fall into a pattern of going to bed an hour or two later than you intend, and to chronically get less sleep than you require.

But consider what that does to your body.  If you have the motivation to exercise and eat right, why not have the self discipline to get a full 8 hours of sleep?  Set a bedtime and force yourself to comply.  Get the full benefits of your training and nutrition.