Optimizing Sleep for High-Performance Athletes

Let's start with the number you've probably been handed. Be wary of anyone who gives you just one. The guidance for adults is at least 7 hours of actual sleep, and for teenagers 8 to 10 hours.^[1] My guidance is an eight-hour sleep window, to get at least seven hours of actual sleep. Seven hours is the minimum for adults. It's a starting point, not your number.

Here's the thing. Most athletes aren't there, and you may recognize yourself. In a study of 175 elite athletes in 12 sports, they said they needed about 8.3 hours to feel rested, but wrist monitors showed they averaged 6.7. Only 3% got what they said they needed.^[3] That need was self-assessed.

A 2021 consensus from sleep and sport scientists calls a one-size-fits-all target such as 7 to 9 hours "unlikely ideal" and recommends an individual approach.^[2] In my experience, one-size-fits-all approaches lack impact, because we're all individuals. Whether you're a runner training for a marathon, a rower or a rec-league player, it's the same question.

I promise you, there are very few people in this world that can truly go on four hours of sleep each night. If you think you're one, you are most likely wrong.

I'm sorry. You may feel like you're great, but you aren't your best self when you're sleep deprived.

Be honest: one bad night doesn't feel like much. So let's look at the bad news first. A meta-analysis of 69 studies (959 people, 89% of them men) looked at physical performance after sleep loss, defined as 6 hours or less in 24. On average, performance was about 7.6% lower, across strength, power, speed, endurance and skill tasks.^[4] The studies varied a lot, so treat it as an average, not a prediction for you.

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Here's what I find most useful: not every short night did the same damage. Consistent drops followed a night without sleep or waking earlier than normal, not going to bed later. Afternoon and evening tasks suffered most, while morning tasks were largely unaffected.^[4] That fits what I teach: most deep sleep comes in the first half of the night and most REM sleep in the second half, so an early alarm cuts into your REM. If your practices start early, let's move your whole sleep window earlier. Don't just cut the back end.

I know the pull of that extra coffee. Caffeine is no substitute for sleep. In two small tennis studies, sleeping five hours worsened serving accuracy, and in the second, 80 mg of caffeine (about a cup of coffee) didn't restore it.^[5]

Let's look at what's happening while you're out. In a classic study of eight young adults, a major peak of growth hormone appeared with the onset of deep sleep in seven of them. It was delayed when sleep was delayed.^[6]

One night without sleep also shows up in muscle. In a small randomized study of 13 healthy young adults (not elite athletes), a night of total sleep deprivation cut muscle protein synthesis by 18% the next day. It also raised cortisol by 21% and lowered testosterone by 24%.^[7]

That's the bad news. The good news is that these are nights you can protect. Your sleep accountant is what I call the process that keeps track of the sleep your body needs. In my experience, if you build a sleep window and protect it with what you do during the day and at night when you can't sleep, your sleep accountant will balance the books.

In the best-known study, 11 Stanford men's varsity basketball players aimed for at least 10 hours in bed for five to seven weeks. They slept about 111 minutes more a night. Their sprint improved from 16.2 to 15.5 seconds, and the paper reports free-throw percentage up 9% and three-point percentage up 9.2%.^[8] It was small, with no control group, and the players were also weeks further into their season, so it shows a change, not proof.

In a small study of 12 college tennis players, serve accuracy rose from 35.7% to 41.8% after a week of about 1.7 more hours of sleep a night, with no control group. A 2021 systematic review could include only two controlled sleep-extension studies in athletes and called its conclusions "tentative."^[9][10]

That's the principle I coach: a well-slept brain before new learning, and again afterwards. I want to be honest with you here. An early lab study found a night of sleep boosted speed on a finger-tapping task by about 20%.^[11] But a 2015 meta-analysis of 34 articles found that, once design factors were accounted for, "there was no evidence that sleep enhances learning." Sleep "may stabilize memory," but that role "cannot be conclusively determined."^[12] A 2022 re-analysis found strong signs of publication bias and no clear gain after sleep.^[13]

It's not just what you do that matters, it's when you do it. Timing is everything, especially for sleep and light. For evening exercise, the news is reassuring: a meta-analysis of 23 studies found no overall evidence that it harms sleep, though sleep might be impaired after vigorous exercise ending within an hour of bedtime.^[14] Late ice time is often exactly that.

You play hockey at night, with ice from 9 to 11, so you get light and you get exercise. In my teaching, both can push your body clock later,^[15] one reason you can't fall asleep afterwards. Give yourself time to come down: dim the lights, put on good blue-blocking glasses once you're home (never while driving), and keep your wake time. I recommend the glasses in my coaching, but the evidence is mixed: a 2023 Cochrane review could not say whether they improve sleep quality.^[16]

Now, light. It's the strongest signal your body clock gets, and what it does depends on when you get it, which depends on your chronotype, your natural timing. If you're a night owl, morning light helps move your clock earlier. If you're an early bird waking too early, keep your mornings dim and get your light in the late afternoon and early evening.^[26] Not sure? You're probably somewhere in between, and your own data helps.

Let's talk naps. They can help. In a 2026 meta-analysis of 35 studies, napping after a normal night reduced fatigue and perceived effort and improved mood and perceived recovery, though the certainty was mostly low.^[17]

Here's how I teach it. Even 10 to 15 minutes can be restorative. Up to about 45 minutes is the sweet spot, and never more than 90: that isn't a nap, it's daytime sleep. The natural window is about six hours after you wake. Leave time to shake off grogginess before you compete.

And caffeine? That's a separate question. An international sports nutrition position stand concluded that it improves exercise performance in many, but not all, studies, and it notes adverse effects on sleep in some people.^[18] Several of its authors, and the society itself, have supplement-industry ties. Before you try any supplement, talk to your physician.

Can't sleep before a big event? You're in good company. In a survey of 283 elite Australian athletes, 64% said they'd slept worse before an important competition at least once in the past 12 months. Most had trouble falling asleep, mainly from thoughts about it and nervousness.^[19]

I tell people that your sympathetic nervous system, your fight-or-flight response, is built for brief bursts of peak performance, so we can overcome a bad night's sleep for a short time. The research is mixed, but it leans your way. In the 2022 meta-analysis, a later bedtime didn't consistently lower performance.^[4] The 2021 consensus says the effect of partial sleep restriction over one to three nights "remains unclear."^[2] In my experience, the weeks before matter more than the night before.

So let's keep it simple: stay in bed, rest, and don't try anything new that night. I don't recommend melatonin or sleep medications as a fix. If you're using them, talk to your physician before changing anything.

After a late game, let's get you home safely. If you're wiped out, let someone else drive. Short sleep and a "harmless" drink are a bad pair. In lab studies, a low blood alcohol level made driving significantly worse in people short on sleep, and they didn't feel the difference.^[20][21]

Then hold your wake time. In my experience, an afternoon nap is the better way to pay back that sleep debt.

Heading across time zones? Direction matters. In Major League Baseball, jet lag was linked with worse performance mainly after eastward travel, with very limited effects after westward travel. That's consistent with a human body clock that runs a little longer than 24 hours.^[22] That's observational data, so we can't be sure of cause. I'd start shifting your clock before you go, using light at the right times. We've put the light rules in our guide to circadian rhythms.

If you're a parent or a coach, here's what we know. Guidelines recommend 8 to 10 hours for teenagers.^[1] In a survey of 112 young athletes (grades 7 to 12, one school), those who reported sleeping under 8 hours a night were 1.7 times as likely to have had an injury.^[23] A meta-analysis of seven studies, co-authored by the same researcher as that survey, found that adolescents who chronically slept poorly were more likely to be injured (odds ratio 1.58). The evidence on a single bad night was inconclusive.^[24] Those are links, not proof.

Early practices plus late games are the trap, and as coaches and parents you often help set the schedule. The schedule sets the sleep.

Coach or club? Bring sleep science to your team.

Sometimes the answer isn't a better routine. Sleep problems are common in sport. Among 199 Canadian National Team athletes, 25.1% were flagged by a screening questionnaire as having sleep problems that needed further assessment. The questionnaire agreed well with a sleep physician's ratings.^[25]

Wear a tracker? A tracker gives you data, not decisions. Let's look at trends over weeks against your own baseline, not one night. I won't name brands here. They aren't all equal, and what matters is whether the data is accurate enough to coach from. If you snore loudly, wake up gasping, or still feel exhausted with a steady sleep window, talk to your physician.

If you want to be your best self, if you want to be elite at whatever it is that you've chosen for yourself, I would argue that you must first become an elite sleeper. We're all on a journey toward Elite Sleep®, at different stages. It's your goal, not ours: where are you on yours, and how far do you want to go?

Let's work out your sleep need together.