Steven Poacher expounds the importance of getting a good night sleep, in this week’s Gaelic Life.

“Just a couple of seasons ago in professional soccer, news broke about Real Madrid having built and installed 81 five-star bedrooms at the club’s training ground complex where at 1pm every afternoon the whole training ground grinds to a halt, and for two hours everyone, players and staff, get a two hour midday sleep.

“Research has shown that effective sleep will ultimately benefit the performance levels of top athletes. So if that is the case for top athletes, it’s even more pertinent for the GAA player who has to hold down a solid day’s work on top their hectic training schedule or a school child who has to sit in class all day and consume all that mental energy, as well as the physical.

“Statistics have shown that even one night of restless or broken sleep can have a huge detrimental effect upon a person’s immune system.”

Read the rest of this article in the current issue of Gaelic Life.

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