Sleep like an athlete

With the new football Premiership season nearly upon us (shudder…!) I was interested to read an article on the BBC News website about pre-season training methods which included the top tip “sleep properly…use blackout blinds…”. Ok, so I admit it was my husband who pointed out the story, but it was worth a glance.

Good quality sleep

The crux of the matter was that athlete’s bodies adapt to their training during periods of rest so it is important that they have plenty of good quality sleep. And that means sleeping in a dark room, among other things.

I think this same principle applies to everyone, not just elite sportsmen and woman. We all need sleep to give our bodies the chance to repair and rejuvenate. Moreover, it is now believed that sleep plays a crucial role in the brain development in infants and young children. And for adults, sleep, and lack of it, has an impact of their ability to learn and perform a variety of tasks.

Light coming through the side of the blinds

To ensure good quality sleep there are several things we can do including; keep noise to a minimum, avoid looking at phones and tablets etc. before we go to bed and, of course, install blackout blinds. Frustratingly though, we are sometimes thwarted if the neighbours are having a party or the birds are singing for example. And blackout blinds, which do a good job of blocking out the light from the parts of the window they cover, often leave light coming through the side of the blinds. Luckily, this is where BlindSides come in – they are quickly and easily installed to stop the pesky light coming through the sides of the blinds.

One last thing, football fans may be interested to know that so seriously do some clubs take sleep that Real Madrid have a hotel next to their training ground for it and Swansea City have sleeping pods at their training base.