A Good Night's Rest
Finding the balance between sleeping enough and running enough
By Kevin Beck
As featured in the May 2001 issue of Running Times Magazine
Elite Sleep
There’s no question among elites that as training loads increase, so do sleep requirements. "For someone training 100-140 miles a week, ten hours a night might be the minimum, but it varies," adds Bob Hodge, 2:10 marathoner and seven-time winner of the Mount Washington Road Race. "The type of sleep that counts most is the deep REM kind, and you know when you aren’t getting enough of it because you can feel the difference."
Most people in contemporary society don’t have the luxury of snoozing that much, but many people do report sensitivities to their own individual requirements and the importance of balancing them with their daily activities. "I get six hours a night. That’s not enough, but I keep the deficit at bay with a 15 minute nap sometime during the day," says Will Brown, an ultramarathoner from North Carolina. "If I get less than six hours—even 15 minutes less—the deficit gets noticeably worse."
Nodding Off
So given your own unique mixture—job, family, training and other sundries—what can you do to optimize your sleep habits? Here are some tips, adapted from a list provided by nutritionist and marathoner Bill Misner, Ph.D.:
Avoid drinking beverages containing caffeine or alcohol for at least six hours before going to bed. Avoid excessive physical arousal (intense exercise, stressful stimuli, certain medications) in the last six hours before sleep. Allow yourself a dark, quiet environment in which to fall asleep. (Ideally, you would synchronize your sleeping and waking times with sunset and sunrise, but this is rarely feasible.) If you take naps during the day, try to take them at the same time each day and try to make them last at least ninety minutes for optimal muscle recovery. <>In the last several hours before bedtime, engage in relaxing activities: reading, listening to music, taking a warm bath, a leisurely walk.
In the end, as with all factors potentially affecting performance, your best bet is do to what you can to optimize your situation and try not to obsess over it. "Could I use more sleep? Absolutely," admits longtime runner Dave McClintock of Massachusetts, who gets only four or five hours of sleep a night. "Would my workouts and eventually my races be better if I slept more? Probably, but I can’t prove it."