THE Olympics ended a few weeks back and one of the common trends coming from a lot of athletes who were successful was about the importance sleep had on their performance.

A number of years ago in professional soccer, news broke about Real Madrid having built and installed 81 five star bedrooms at the club’s training complex. At 1pm every afternoon, the whole training ground grinds to a halt and for two hours players and staff get a mid-day sleep.

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

Statistics have shown that just one restless night or broken sleep can have a huge detrimental effect on a person’s immune system, ultimately increasing the risk of injury and illness by leaving the player entering training already fatigued and run down. If you sleep poorly for three days then physiologically your strength, endurance, speed and power are all affected which in turn will result in a player underperforming in games or training.

Sleep has become that important that Manchester United also recently installed specialised sleep pods in their Carrington training complex for players to snooze in between double sessions. Across the city Manchester City have gone one step further by building 32 ensuite rooms with special sleep-inducing wall paper. Even tennis star Roger Federer is a huge advocate of sleep immediately after a training session.

Attitudes towards sleep at professional level are certainly changing and the value of sleep is becoming more and more appreciated. We as GAA coaches should be encouraging and trying to implement it into our own squads, particularly considering the tough grind of a daily job on top of training.

Some benefits of an effective night’s sleep include:

– Sleep allows growth to occur which in turn will aid performance levels.

– Helps repair muscles and replenishes immune cells which are critical after an intense game or training session.

– Allows the brain to recharge which helps your mental alertness and aids decision making in training or games.

– Provides your body with more energy which in turn will lead to enhanced playing performances.

Some people may want to know how to get a good night’s sleep and the following tips will help:

– Stay off your phone, computer and TV approximately 60 minutes before sleep time.

– Get into a routine – a pre-sleep routine which will tell the body it’s “sleep time”.

– Try a bath or shower before bed, helps body temperature cool after coming out of it.

– Keep the room cool, avoid a blazing radiator.

– Try drinking a cup of warm milk.

Sleep is critical when it comes to the body making adaptations from the stresses of training and games so its crucially important we encourage our players to get that good night’s sleep and rest.

Remember your body knows when it needs rest, learn to listen to it!