You may not be an elite athlete but that doesn’t mean you don’t want to improve your performance with better sleep.
If you are a cyclist…
Maybe you are trying to conquer a challenging hill on your Single Speed, or going for a Personal Best. Perhaps you dream of being the KOM on a particular Strava segment. (That would be King of the Mountain for those not in the know.) It could be as simple as absolutely having to beat your mate Dylan up the hill. Something is driving you to be better.
You’ve made all the adjustments you can to your bike, taken off a few hundred grams here, and upgraded there. Your lycra can’t get tighter, and you are colour coded. You have perfected your personal choice of race food – fruitcake or biltong with jelly babies or potatoes – squashed into your pocket. What more can you do?
Could you do something as simple as improve your performance with better sleep?
How is lack of sleep impacting you?
According to experts a night with no sleep will have the same impact on your reactions as having four drinks. That may not sound so bad to you, but do you really fancy flying down some technical single-track after throwing back four beers?
Even a small change in your reaction time could have an impact, literally. You could quickly run out of talent. Well rested you may be able to tackle the challenge much better.
Another consequence of not enough sleep is the risk of injury. If your reaction times are less than optimal, you could well find yourself greeting fellow riders in the emergency room after the Sunday morning ride.
You don’t have to have a spectacular crash. It could simply be hitting the wall.
A lack of sleep can lead to a number of serious health problems. These include heart disease, high blood pressure, depression, diabetes or stroke. It can also be blamed for weight gain, forgetfulness, impaired judgement and premature aging.
In today’s rushed world it has become a badge of honour to sleep less and less. So much to do, so little time. We cut into our rest time for late night functions or bingeing on Netflix, and sacrifice sleep for early morning gym sessions.
You may think you can get by on six hours of sleep a night but to perform well, seven to nine hours is recommended. On a regular basis, not just the night before a ride.
Improve your performance with better sleep?
The good news is improving your performance may not be as hard as you think. All you need to do is get in some secret training: a great night’s sleep!
If you need a new bed to help you in this quest send us an email to info@bedworld.co.za
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