The Best Training Tip For Athletes Of All Ages: SLEEP

Forget hiring private trainers, mental coaches, and buying fancy hi-tech training equipment. There is an evidence-based scientific research that one simple thing can improve an athlete`s performance above all else, and it`s free and easy. It`s called SLEEP.

In 2003 Harvard and Penn medical schools studied four groups of people for two weeks. They controlled each group`s amount of sleep: Group 1 went two days without sleep, 2, 3, and 4 had four/six/eight hours, respectively. Then all the groups were monitored and tested in physical and psychological tasks. The obvious conclusion: as sleep time went down, so did their scores. But perhaps one of the most interesting things to come from the study; those that had four and six hours of sleep matched the negative results of the group that pulled two all-nighters! So even just missing out on a few hours of sleep per night can greatly affect a child`s performance on the field and in the classroom in drastic ways......

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Bethany`s Notes: How do you encourage students to get more sleep? Give them the facts and be an example. Sleep is essential to our functioning both on and off the field. It is also a critical component of the mental EDGE camp I run.