Richard Swinbourne

High Performance Nutritionist

PhD Scholar “Sleep & Elite Athletes”

ABCS OF ZZZS

YOU SNOOZE…YOU WIN!

SLEEP LIKE THE PROs

Some of the worlds best

sports people hunt sleep

aggressively. Roger

Federer regularly gets 12

hours sleep in 24, Lebron

James 12 hours, Usain Bolt

8-10.

They are amazing athletes

and that they sleep a lot is

no coincidence!

SLEEP & HEALTH

Sleep is as important as

breathing, eating and

drinking for life. Do you

treat it as such?

Poor sleep is strongly

related to weight gain,

heart disease, cancer and

diabetes, poor mood and

daytime dysfunction.

Improving your sleep can

be truly transformational,

whether you want to loose

weight, live to 100 or excel

at your sport!

What IS Sleep?

Sleep is a state of unconsciousness in which both the body

and the brain rest, repair, regenerate, and recharge.

Sleep cycles: body repairs over 1st 4 hrs (deep sleep), then brain

recharges (light sleep and REM dream sleep)….if you have a short

night the body repairs but the brain suffers!!

How much sleep do

we need?

Sleep is very individual.

Most adult humans need

7.5-8.5 hours per night,

teens 9 hours, school

children 10-11 hours for

optimal functioning, good

health and happiness.

Hard working athletes may

need a little more than the

minimum.

If we under sleep, the

difference is called sleep

debt, which accrues over

time. You can dissolve

sleep debt with 2 really

good full nights sleep.

Often the weekend is a time

to catch up!

What Happens if we

sleep more??

College Basket Ball Players

were asked to sleep more,

from their usual 6:45hr

extended to 8:45hrs

They turned into Super Humans!!!

Athletic performance...Significant improvement!

Faster sprint times…improved muscle and nervous function

Better skill acquisition & execution…better learners

Shot more hoops…9% more 3 pointers!

Increased ENERGY, LESS fatigue

They FELT they performed better

Improved mood…They were HAPPIER

WHAT HAPPENED?

Similar improvements seen. It doesn’t matter your sport, even for the CORPORATE ATHLETE or high performance MUM and DAD, sleep

makes the difference!

STUDY REPEATED IN OTHER SPORTS

“I Love To Sleep”. Lyndsey Vonn

“If I don’t sleep 11-12 hours a day, its not right”. Roger Federer

“HOW DO WE SLEEP MORE

& SLEEP BETTER?”

FIRSTLY EXTEND YOUR SLEEP

YOUR END OF WEEK GOAL:

LOOK AT YOUR USUAL TOTAL SLEEP

INCREASE TOTAL SLEEP TIME BY

1 HOUR OVER 1 WEEK!

HOW?

1. SIMPLY GO TO BED 10 MINUTES

EARLIER EACH NIGHT

2. EXTEND THE HOURS BEFORE

MIDNIGHT, RATHER THAN SLEEP LATER

N.B. YOUR BODY CLOCK WILL NOT

NOTICE 10 MINUTES EACH NIGHT

FEEL THE DIFFERENCE!!

THIS TAKES DISCIPLINE BUT SLEEPING LONGER IS IMPORTANT.

YOU CAN CONTROL WHAT YOU DO IN THE EVENING.

CONTROL THE CONTROLLABLES!

TRICKS TO GETTING TO SLEEP

& SLEEPING BETTER

Once sleep hours are optimised

the body loves routine & daily

recalibration

• SLEEP WITH THE MOON; Go

to sleep within 30mins of the

same time each night.

• RISE WITH THE SUN; Awake

roughly at the same time each

morning.

• Sleeping in? 30-60 min sleep in

is ok, more and you will feel

‘jetlagged’…have an afternoon

nap instead

The De Power Hour

Can you go from 100km/hr to 0km/hr in

5 minutes??

NO!!

HAVE PRE SLEEP HABITS

Allow an hour b4 bed to unwind, relax, &

prepare your body for hibernation.

Follow this routine. Parents prepare their

children for sleep every night with a repeatable

routine and set of habits…you need to do this

too!

Try calming or distracting your mind with meditation, music, a fav

book, progressive muscle relaxation, or a meditation app like

HEADSPACE

Writing down your thoughts,

worries and ‘to do’s is

incredibly relaxing for the

mind…it stops you churning

things over in bed…you go to

sleep faster!

“Worrying about the next day is

the biggest cause of insomnia”

Trick your Biology

Your body temp must

dip to trigger

sleepiness. This is how

Melatonin works!

Having a shower or

bath within an hour of

bed mimics this

response.

Warm your skin before

bed with water…every

night!

Warm feet make you

drowsy…try wearing

socks before bed.

This is the ‘Jacuzzi

effect’; warming your

skin triggers

sleepiness.

The brain is very primal…as a daytime

animal, when the sun is up, so are we!

Turn the lights down in your house

1 hour before you want to go to

sleep. Use lamps. This is HIGHLY

effective.

Caveman did not have any problems

getting to sleep!!!

Minimise screen time…reduce

brightness on your eye…TV is ok

with room lights off.

Avoid blue light…download a

blue light filter or F.LUX app

for your computer

MANAGE SLEEP WRECKERS

Taper

fluid after

dinner

Block light Block sound

Cool bedroom;

biologically we

sleep best at a

room temp of

18 degrees

celcius.

“WARM BODY

COOL HEAD”

Do you

need that

PM

primer?

Coffee

takes 6

hrs to

reduce by

half

strength.

A double

shot at

2pm is a

single

shot at

8pm!

SLEEP NUTRITION

Including protein and carbs at dinner

increases sleep hormones

Tart cherry juice is

proven to enhance

sleep quality. For

adults only and cycle

use. Try for a few

nights when you need

natural help or when

training hard.

Magnesium

and zinc

enhance

sleep

hormone

production.

Quality protein

supplies

Tryptophan, a

building block for

melatonin. Try

some milk before

bed!

WHAT ABOUT NAPPING?

• NASA studied Napping.

• Highly effective strategy if tired

Basic NASA Nap Rules

• Don’t nap if you struggle with

insomnia/cant get to sleep at night

• We are programmed to nap @8hr post

wake up time i.e. between 1-330pm

• Don’t nap much past about 330pm

• A small nap of 20-30 mins is best

• Keep to 30min OR 90 mins to feel good

afterwards…set your alarm!

• Coffee naps…take some coffee b4 to feel

better when you wake.

• Try it on the weekend to ‘catch up’

A 26 min nap can increase

concentration by 100% and

performance by 34%

Now you know your ABCs!! Sleep is a behaviour. Practice it. Improve it.

Humans do what makes us feel good. Sleeping better feels good.

In fact it feels GREAT!

sleep better. be better