Sleep for Runners: The Ultimate Guide
Sleep is important for everyone. We all know that to function well you have to be sleeping well. If you're ever tired, grumpy, or run down, everyone's first question is "Have you been getting enough sleep?" We know to send our kids to bed early and we would be worried if they weren't sleeping well, however, when it comes to our sleep we feel like we are immune to the consequences of staying up late. Poor sleep is detrimental to our health and well-being, but it is even more important for athletes. In fact, sleep is one of the biggest performance enhancers for runners.
One quote I have heard from many top coaches and athletes, which I absolutely love, is "If sleep was a supplement, it would be banned." There is no performance-enhancing drug, fancy new running supplement, or latest trend that is going to have as much of an impact on your performance as sleep will.
By improving your sleep quality, you will improve your recovery, increase the adaptations from the hard training you are doing, and improve your overall performance.
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Worth a read: How to Improve Your Post-Run Recovery.
Why is sleep so important for runners?
We know that sleep is important, but why is it especially important for runners? Simply put: we need more sleep to recover better.
Although he is a sprinter (and the best to ever do it), Usain Bolt had this to say about sleep "Sleep is extremely important to me -- I need to rest and recover in order for the training I do to be absorbed by my body,". Bolt reportedly gets up to 10 hours per night. He's not the only elite athlete to understand the importance of sleep; Roger Federer gets between 11-12 hours of sleep per night, Lebron James gets 12 hours of sleep per night and Mo Farah gets between 9-11 hours of sleep per night, in an oxygen tent BTW!
Runners can only properly benefit from the hard work they put into their training by recovering well. Your adaptations come from your recovery, not from your training. If you are training hard and not recovering hard, the result is burnout and injuries. To properly prevent running injuries and put yourself on the right path to a big breakthrough in your performance, you need to be sleeping right.
There are things that happen to our bodies when we sleep, that help us recover better than we can when we are awake.
During sleep hormones are released that help with our recovery. These hormones help with:
Repairing damaged cells
Controlling energy release
Increase protein synthesis to help with recovery
The pituitary gland releases growth hormones during sleep to stimulate muscle growth and repair
Prolactin is released to help fight inflammation, reducing the risk of injuries and improving recovery
During sleep your immune system secretes cytokines, which are proteins that help your body fight inflammation, infection, and trauma.
Benefits of sleep for runners:
Repairing muscle tissue
Sleep requires less energy which means our energy levels are fresh for the next day so we can run better
Decrease our risk of injury
Improve adaptations to improve performance
Improve our mental freshness
Decrease inflammation
Decrease our risk of getting ill
Improves our cardiovascular health
Read this blog from 'WomensRunning': Sleep Science All Runners Need To Know.
How much sleep do you need as a runner?
Sleep is a very individual thing and everyone is different. The standard recommendation is that you get 8 hours of sleep per night (although the proper recommendation is 7-9 hours of sleep for adults). Through your years of living you should know whether you are the kind of person who needs slightly more, or whether you can get away with slightly less, however, you would probably benefit from more sleep.
A good rule of thumb is to aim to get 8 hours of sleep and then add 1 minute of sleep for every mile you run. Therefore, if you run 15 miles per week you should aim for 8:15 hours of sleep per night and if you run 60 miles per week you should aim for 9 hours. What this doesn't take into account is how hard the miles you're running are and whether you just do running or if you do other activities as well.
For example, let's take 2 runners and call them 'Runner A' and 'Runner B'.
'Runner A': does 40 miles of recovery run-pace jogging per week.
'Runner B': does 25 miles per week, but that includes a threshold session, an interval session, and a long run workout. To supplement this they also do 2 runner specific strength sessions.
Although 'Runner A' does more miles than 'Runner B' we can safely assume that 'Runner B' would need more sleep.
There are many ways to find out how much sleep you need with modern-day running technology. 'WHOOP fitness trackers are the best for tracking your recovery, after using one for a month or so and seeing your recovery and sleep statistics you're likely to understand the relationship between your sleep and your recovery.
WHOOP 4.0 Fitness Tracker
Alternatively, Garmin watches can track your running and your recovery and also give you a sleep score. Check out a comparison of the best Garmin watches for runners here: Comparison of The Best Garmin Watches For Runners.
To conclude it may take some time to figure out how many hours of sleep is optimal for your recovery and running routine, however, once you start getting the right amount of sleep, your running performance recovery and mental health will all improve.
Check out this blog from RunnersWorld: How Much Sleep Do You Need?
Quantity of sleep vs quality of sleep
Sleep quantity: How many hours of sleep you're getting.
Sleep quality: How well you sleep.
Sometimes you can get 8 or 9 hours of sleep but don't end up feeling all that great and refreshed the next day. Maybe you had to get up 3 or 4 times in the night and that disturbed your REM sleep (deep sleep).
Read this blog from 'Sleep Foundation': REM Sleep: What it is and Why it's Important.
There are various metrics of sleep:
Sleep Onset Latency: You fall asleep within 30 minutes of getting into bed.
Sleep Continuity: You typically sleep through the night without waking up. If you do wake up in the middle of the night, you fall back asleep within 20 minutes.
Sleep Efficiency: The amount of time you spend sleeping compared to the amount of time you spend trying to get to sleep.
Sleep Quantity: You’re getting the recommended amount of sleep on average per night.
Sleep Timing: Your sleep matches your natural circadian rhythm or internal clock.
Alertness During Waking Hours: You feel rested and refreshed when you wake up and have energy and full cognitive capacity throughout your day.
Sleep Satisfaction: You feel satisfied with the sleep you’re getting each night.
There are 4 stages of sleep:
Entering sleep: This is where your muscles start to relax and your brain slows down. This usually lasts a few minutes.
Deeper sleep: Your heart rate will significantly decrease and your body's core temperature will decline. This stage will make up about half of your total sleep time.
Deepest sleep: This is the most restorative stage for the brain. This is also the stage of sleep where muscles and bones are developed. This will last about 30-40 minutes.
REM sleep (Rapid Eye Movement): Increased brain activity and really clear dreams. This is where your body is in the deepest stage of relaxation. The amount of REM sleep you get will vary.
Overall, sleep quality is actually a lot more important than simply the sleep quantity.
Worth a read from 'Evie Ring': Sleep Quality vs Sleep Quantity.
How do I improve my sleep?
There are several things you can do and things you should avoid in order to improve your sleep quality and quantity.
Things you should do:
1) Stick to a sleep schedule
Sleep is routine. You literally have a body clock- it's called your circadian rhythm. You need to get your body into a routine of knowing when it's time to go to sleep or you will end up going to bed and not being able to sleep. You need to pick a time to go to sleep and stick to it, but don't make huge jumps in your bedtime- only go to bed a maximum of 15 minutes earlier each day. If you usually go to sleep at 1 am, then try to go to bed at 8 pm, you're just going to sit in bed wide awake for hours.
2) Have a wind-down routine
Having a routine that relaxes you that you start at least 30 minutes before can help let your brain know that it's sleep time. This can include things like taking a warm bath, meditating, or closing all the curtains to stop any light from getting in. Also, turning electronics off at least an hour before bed.
3) Improve your sleep conditions
Make sure that your room is dark and cold as these are optimal conditions for you to get to sleep. Also, sleeping in the same bed and location every night allows you to get more REM sleep.
Although it may not always be in your control- try to make sure the place you are sleeping is quiet.
For more ways to optimise your sleep conditions, check out this post from the NHS:
4) Be active
This should be quite easy for you as a runner, but making sure you are active during the day will improve your ability to fall asleep.
Things you shouldn't do:
1) Force sleep
Sleep is strange and I'm sure you are familiar with the feeling of how trying to fall asleep makes it impossible to sleep. Try to take your mind off trying to get to sleep. Find out How to Fall Asleep in 10, 60, or 120 Seconds.
2) Try not to run too close to your bedtime
I hope the term 'bedtime' isn't making you feel like too much of a child at this point.
Exercise keeps our minds awake. Try to make sure your run or any physical activity you do isn't too close to the time you're trying to go to sleep.
3) Go on electronics
Staying away from electronics in the last hour before bed will help your brain to wind down before bed.
4) Eating too close to sleep
Try not to eat any big meals close to bedtime. There is a rule: 'Don't eat after 7 pm'. This is because your body will be busy digesting all the food you have just ate.
Worth a read from RunnersWorld: 6 Sleeping Tips to Improve Your Rest.
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