3 Practical Tips for Sleep and Recovery
Sleep is by far the most valuable recovery tool our bodies have. Other recovery methods don’t even come close. But for a variety of reasons, our sleep can be impacted.
The biggest thing is to try to be consistent. Much like training, consistency is more important the intensity or duration. Funny to think of intensity when it comes to sleep… There’s nothing new when it comes to the concept of “sleep hygiene”. We’ve heard to keep the room dark, to keep the room quiet, to have routine bed times, and to avoid electronic before bed. These are all good things.
Something strange happens when we’re training a lot though. Often, it can be hard to sleep. Our legs ache. Our minds run in the quiet, dark room. Instead of reading, we find ourselves scrolling our phones or watching a show on our laptop.
Here are 3 practical tips for getting to sleep when you are tired. Or wired from a late training session.
1. Invest in some blue light glasses. The reason we are advised to avoid screens before bedtime is because they emit blue light, which can disrupt our circadian rhythms. These glasses (which come as prescription or non-prescription) are designed to filter out the blue light and help our bodies naturally come down once it gets dark outside. Sometimes looking at a screen is unavoidable when it’s late. But blue light glasses can reduce the negative impact that will have on our ability to fall asleep. I don’t recommend a specific brand, but I will say that good quality glasses that do their job will probably be upwards of $50. There are plenty of good options and designs out there.
2. Make a to-do list for the next day before bed. This is especially true when you have work or home projects going on. Often what keeps our minds awake is all the impending tasks we have the next day. There is plenty of evidence that writing down the tasks we have to do actually destresses us. This may seem counterintuitive when we’re looking at a list of things to do, but it works. Writing it down helps declutter the list from our minds. You can even keep the list by your bed so that if something else comes to you as you’re trying to fall asleep, you can add it to the list.
3. Stretch and/or roll before bed. This isn’t about increasing your mobility or flexibility. Stretching and rolling in the evening is a relaxing way to wind down from your day. It can become almost a meditative process. It also helps stimulate some light blood flow, which if you are sore or achy from a workout, can help you fall asleep. It’s not that stretching and rolling helps your muscles specifically recover. But they can relax your muscles and help your body to relax and get to sleep faster. You don’t need to spend of time in really deep stretches. Just some basic stretches and hit your major muscles. I am a fan of foam rollers, especially for the legs, glutes, and low back. There are plenty of quick routines to do.
We can’t control everything and sometimes sleep is one of those things. I do think these 3 tips can help when we’re busy with training and life. If you are consistent about getting good sleep then the nights or weeks when you don’t sleep as well become less important. Overall, sleep remains our #1 recovery tool. Let’s use it wisely.
