Sleep Is Undefeated

For the past two days, I've had conversations with three different individuals about sleep for various reasons.

The first was my daughter, who was lying in her bed, and I could see the bright light of her phone on. I explained to her that bright light would interfere with her deep sleep. She was supposed to be getting to bed early that night. The point--even if you're in bed at a decent time, don't let your electronics rob you of the quality of your sleep.

The second was one of my online nutrition clients. We were reviewing everything that he tracked for the week. Nutrition and training-wise, he was doing what he was supposed to do. However, he was only sleeping around 5 hours per night. So we quickly shifted the focus of his program to improving his sleep average. The point--they say you can't out-train a bad diet. But also, you can't out-train or out-nutrition lack of sleep.

The third was with one of my 14-year old high school athletes. He has been coming off of a significant injury, training hard with me and on the basketball court. One of his coaches suggested he do cryotherapy. His mom asked me my opinion on that. My question was, "Is he eating well, and how much is he sleeping?"

She said he spends too much time on his phone at night, and he doesn't focus enough on his sleep. My suggestion was to get nutrition down and at least 8 hours of sleep before you worry about spending money on something like cryotherapy. The point--supplements or fancy recovery modalities, will never impact the quality of your recovery like sleep.

Sleep remains undefeated when it comes to recovery, improving your performance, and getting everything you are trying to get out of your training and nutrition.

Check out this infographic, The Power of Sleep. It provides some easy-to-digest information on why sleep is important, five signs your sleep habits aren't working for you, preparing for a good night's sleep, and tips to better sleep.